


yr 



)TWSjtroT}6 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



Shelf .yA-7- 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



i 



ROMANISM 



VERSUS 



PROTESTANTISM. 



> BY 
REV. R. C. ARMSTRONG, B.D., 

A Member of the Northwest Texas Annual Conference, Author of 

''''A Compendium of the Sabbath and Religious 

and Civil Liberty,^^ 






PRINTET> FOR THE AFTHOH. 

Publishing House of the M. E. Church, South, 

Barbee & Smith, Agents, Nashville, Tenn. 

1894. 



N. 



o>- Congress 



\4 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1894, 

By R. C. Armstrong, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



->J\ 






^( 'Kj 



PREFACE. 

"As from causes seemingly fortuitous," I find myself writing 
a preface to my third booklet. In neither instance was there a 
settled purpose, or even a thought of what was evolved from 
the initial design. The pages of this book are the outgrowth 
of a promise made to my colaborer, Eev. W. H. Terry, P. C, of 
South Temple, to preach a sermon upon CathoMcism, which is 
being firmly rooted in the prosperous little city of Temple, 
Tex. The efibrt to prepare the sermon resulted in the prepa- 
ration of two lectures, which w^ere delivered in Temple on the 
29th and 30th of April, 1893. The requests that the lectures 
should be published in the Texas Christian Advocate were such 
as to induce the writer to prepare them for the press. The de- 
sign then was to publish the lectures in short articles without 
additional addenda^ but the interest grew in the public mind, 
and the subject in the mind of the writer, until the eighteenth 
number was reached. Then came many requests, both written 
and verbal, that these articles be put in book form. This de- 
sire, so earnestly expressed by friends at home and strangers 
abroad, has led to the publication of the book as it now is. 
Much matter will be found in the book which did not appear 
in the articles. This I hope will induce those w^ho read the 
articles to read the book also. 

I have given this history of the preparation of this work as a 
kind of apology for an apparent want of continuity and co- 
herency in the arrangement and presentation of the subject- 
matter. Had the author intended to write a book in the outset, 
the arrangement would have been diflerent. Eeference would 
have been had to logical efiect. The author cannot hope that 
these pages will escape just criticism when brought under the 

(3) 



BOMANI&M VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 



crucial test of mature scholarship, but he fondly cherishes the 
hope that its defects will not so materially mar its worth as to 
render it unacceptable to any. Believing that Providence has 
led to the preparation of these pages, and praying that it may 
contribute to the interest of my feilow-citizens of America and 
that God's blessings may accelerate its mission, I send it forth. 
Let no one think for a moment that there lingers in the bosom 
of the author anything like malice, revenge, animosity, or the 
spirit of intolerance toward any of the children of God. Nay, 
rather, his hands and arms are outstretched to grasp and to 
clasp every true lover of the Lord Jesus. So where the language 
is found to be vigorous and nervous, conceive not that it is the 
index to an untoward passion, but the expression of an earnest 
nature opposing what is understood to be a great evil. The 
precedent was given in the teachings of the Master when heap- 
plied the epithets " fool," " hypocrite," etc. When we have to 
deal with grave evils, we cannot allow sentimentality, philan- 
thropy, or even the touch of infinite love so to blunt the edge 
of truth as to darken counsel, or fail to awaken in the reader a 
proper apprehension of the situation. So when the logic of 
facts forces us to the front of the battle, we must stand ready to 
fight or embrace, as duty may indicate. 

I wish here to acknowledge my indebtedness to Father 
Chiniquy, author of "Fifty Years in the Church of Eome" and 
" The Priest, Woman, and Confessional ; " and the Eev. 0. M. 
Owen, author of " The School Plot Unmasked ; " and also to Rev. 
L. L. Picket, author of " Danger Signals," for valuable informa- 
tion which has aided much in the preparation of this book. 

The Author. 



CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER I. Page. 

Romanism Is TJnclianged — Protestantism — Romanism Has 
Made no Revision of Her Creed — Infallibility Considered. 9 

CHAPTER II. 
Catholic Dogmas — Transubstantiation— Invocation of the 
Saints — Celibacy of the Priests and Nuns — Auricular 
Confession — The Church — ^Apostolic Succession — Intol- 
erance — Corruption — Avariciousness 12 

CHAPTER III. 
Specious Pretensions to Charity — Works of Charity — Policy 
of the Catholic Church in America 43 

CHAPTER lY. 
Roman Proselytism through Her Educational System — 
Enslaves the Intellect^Perfidy — Success — Education In- 
ferior 48 

CHAPTER Y. 
This Government in Danger — Catholic Strategy — Perverts 
History — Persecutions 57 

CHAPTER YI. 
Dangers That Threaten This Republic Continued — Threats 
• — Control Cities — ^Associated Press — Military Organiza- 
tions — Arming — American People Not Credulous — Satol- 
li, Bishop Odin — Catholic Schools and Colleges— Hil- 
derbrand 71 

CHAPTER YII. 
The Lecture of Father O'Shannahan — Catholics Are the 
Same Now as Ever — Old Tricks Repeated — Roman Per- 
secution — Gaining Ground — Bishop Newton— Spanish 
Inquisition — The Mexican Inquisition — Catholic Intol- 
erance — Reviewer Reviewed — Po wderly 90 

CHAPTER YIII. 
Our Greatest Dangers — Demagogy — Rum — Secular Press — 
Fraternity — Conclusion 112 

(5) 



ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 



CHAPTER I. 

Eomanism Is Unchanged — Protestantism — Romanism Has 
Made no Revision of Her Creed — Infallibility Considered. 

(Dan. vii. 15-28; 2 Thess. ii. 3, 4.) 

1. I COME to write of an institution that is hoary 
with the frost of the ages, foretold by the prophet 
Daniel as a temporal power and as a subverter of the 
truth and an enemy of God and man. I cannot ac- 
cord to the Roman Catholics the honor of being even 
a branch of the Church of God. They have not the 
credentials to validate such a claim. I have no war 
to wage upon individual Christians. There are 
doubtless many sincere persons among the Catholics, 
and maybe some true Christians, but my arguments 
shall be directed against an institution that has had 
organic form since the eighth century, and with a 
history that has crimsoned its pages as no other in- 
stitution has ever done. I dare assert that the Ro- 
man Catholic Church stands out in history unparal- 
leled for cunning, chicanery, perfidy, arrogance, 
intolerance, persecution, and bloodshed. Its history 
is unquestionably without a counterpart in all the di- 
abolical crimes known to men. 

If the Protestants are right, then the Catholics are 
wrong; for they are separated by the widest extremes. 
An impassable gulf is set between them. There can 

(7) 



8 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 



be no compromise, for they have but little in com- 
mon, as far removed from each other as the north and 
the south poles. 

2. Protestantism. — The word "Protestant" means 
one who protests against the doctrines and practices 
of the Roman Catholic Church. Protestants have, 
from their rise to the present, contended for that 
freedom that guarantees both civil and religious lib- 
erty to all; this the Catholics have constantly op- 
posed. 

The important doctrine of justification by faith has 
from the beginning contradistinguished Protestants 
from Catholics, for Catholics have held strenuously 
to salvation through the Catholic Church only. 
Protestants have protested against the intolerance, 
superstition, and corruption of Catholicism as well as 
against their dogmas. Instead of surrendering any 
ground involved in the issue between the two, Prot- 
estants have advanced with the light of the ages, and 
now more than ever cling to that form of government 
that guarantees to all " the right to worship God ac- 
cording to the dictates of their own consciences." 
They have approached nearer the true ideal of per- 
fection in love, mercy, and liberty; while the Catho- 
lics remain as at first, with no modification of either 
doctrine or practice except as constrained by the civil 
law. 

3. Romanism Has Made no Revision of Her Creed. — 
Her practice has been modified where and when con- 
strained by the civil law; otherwise she is to-day 
what she has always been. Some have been deceived 
by the specious pretensions of Catholicism, and they 
really think that slie has reformed, but such is im- 



ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 



possible. Romanists cannot reform; their theory of 
in-f allibility forever precludes any change of doctrine, 
mode of government, or principle of action. They 
can surrender nothing; what they were at the Reforma- 
tion they are to-day. If they were to admit reforma- 
tion possible, then that would virtually destroy the 
very foundation of their Church, which is infallibil- 
ity. This dogma forces them, whether they will or 
not, to indorse or sanction all the horrible deeds 
committed by them during the Dark Ages, all the in- 
iquities of the popes, and the bloody deeds of the In- 
quisition. 

4. Infallibility Considered. — We have called atten- 
tion to the fact that this dogma forever precludes any 
reformation and makes development impossible to 
them. But some may ask: "Do they claim to be in- 
fallible now?" I answer that the time was when they 
held that the dictum of the Church in its corporate 
body was infallible, and that all questions of doubtful 
character were to be referred to this arbiter for final 
adjudication. From such decision there was no high- 
er appeal. To appeal to God's Word for any decision 
above the Church was nothiug but heresy and con- 
tempt of the Church and a crime that should be 
atoned by the severest penance. But now, in addi- 
tion to the voice of the Church as expressed through 
her theologians, the Fathers, and the councils, they 
have the ipse dixit of his Holiness. On the 18th day 
of July, 1870, by the Vatican Council of 601 members, 
after some dissension and the withdrawal of quite a 
number of delegates, the dogma of pontifical infalli- 
bility was formulated, from which I now quote: 
"Therefore faithfully adhering to the traditions re- 



10 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 



ceived from the beginning of the Christian faith, for 
the glory of God our Saviour, the exultation of the 
Catholic religion ... we teach and define that 
it is a dogma divinely revealed that the Roman pon- 
tiff when he speaks ex cathedra — ^. e., when in the 
discharge of the office of pastor and doctor of all 
Christians, by virtue of his extreme apostolic author- 
ity, he defines a doctrine regaTding faith or morals 
to be held by the universal Church — is possessed 
of that infallibility with which the divine Redeem- 
er willed that his Church should be endowed for 
defining doctrine regarding faith or morals . . . 
and such definitions are irrefutable of themselves. 
But if any one presume to contradict this, our defini- 
tion, let him be anathema." 

Thus you see that instead of revocation, or even 
modification of dogmas that have brought to the In- 
quisition innocence and virtue and that have drenched 
the land in the blood of the best men and women, we 
have the strongest reaffirmation of arrogant claims. 
Infallibility! What does it mean? Not capable of 
erring; entirely exempt from liability to mistake. 
Who is this that makes himself equal to God? Pope 
Pius IX., with his five hundred and thirty-five bish- 
ops, gravely telling the people of this age that he, 
Pope Pius IX., is infallible, exempt from liability to 
mistake, equal to God; and we, as Protestants, are 
anathematized if we dare deny it! Yes, put under 
the ban of Eome — yea, of God — if we deny it. And 
being condemned, we would be executed if Eome had 
the power to do it. AVe look in vain along back the 
track of time to find this inf allibiltiy. Instead of this, 
we find bishops arrayed against bishops, popes against 



ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 11 



popes, councils against councils: the one doing, the 
other undoing; the one sanctioning, and the other 
condemning; the one establishing, and the other pull- 
ing down. So this high claim, that is at once repug- 
nant to the intelligence of the average schoolboy, has 
no foundation in history nor in fact nor in the Word 
of God. It is an offense to reason, contradictory to 
experience, and an insult to God. 

They tell us that out of the Catholic Church there 
is no salvation; all others will be lost; they alone 
possess the keys to the kingdom. I shall examine 
their claims, as they have much to do with the con- 
clusions which we shall reach in this discussion, which 
are of vital interest to the Protestants of this land. 



CHAPTEE II. 

Catholic Dogmas— Transubstantiation — Invocation of the Saints 
— Celibacy of the Priests and Nuns — Auricular Confession — 
The Church — Apostolic Succession — Intolerance — Corruption 
— Avariciousness. 

1. The Catholics adhere tenaciously to the doctrine 
of transubstantiation. This means that the bread 
and the wine are actually converted into the veritable 
body and blood of Christ. He who eats the bread 
really eats the body and blood of Christ. That the 
entire Christ is either in the bread or wine, so that it 
is not necessary to eat both the bread and to drink 
tlie wine, since the entire Christ is in tlie bread or 
tlie wine separately. Mark you, the bread and the 
wine are not symbols of his body and blood, but re- 
ally and substantially his identical body and blood. 
They say: ''Whosoever receiveth the body of Christ 
receive th Christ whole and entire; there is no receiv- 
ing him by parts." Hence they do not give the cup to 
the laity. The priests keep the wine for themselves. 
They have not the least scriptural authority for this 
dogma, nevertheless they claim to base it upon the 
texts: "This is my body" and "this is my blood." 
This they interpret literally. To interpret this liter- 
ally would be to involve us in difficulties that would be 
endless. This is figurative, just as hundreds of other 
passages are figurative; such as "I am the vine, ye 
are the branches," "Ye are the salt of the earth." 
If it were possible for the priests to convert a piece 
of bread into the body and blood of Christ — into the 
(12) 



KOMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 13 

veritable Christ — then it follows that they are crea- 
tors, not of sprigs of grass or human beings even, but 
actually they can create gods many out of little wa- 
fers — a god to be worshiped and that is worshiped by 
every good Catholic. It is hard for us to realize that 
we have men in our midst who can make gods that 
are worthy to be adored. Yes, it is hard to believe 
that it is possible, here in this enlightened age, 
here in America, beneath the shadow of her hundreds 
of academies, colleges, and universities, that any man 
would have the audacity to claim the power to trans- 
form a piece of bread into a Christ to be worshiped 
by the people. But such is the case, and we are ac- 
cursed by his Holiness, the pope, if we dare express 
a doubt about this veritable humbug. We express 
our commiseration for the heathens that worship 
monkeys, cats, snakes, wood, stone, and such like, 
while here at our very doors are men and women who 
adore a piece of bread which they as good Catholics 
believe is the real Christ, made by the invested pow- 
er of the priest, and we look on and admire their de- 
votion, or encourage it by our silence, the secular 
press the meantime speaking out in commendatory 
terms of this sacrilege. I submit that the worship 
of Aaron's calf was not more idolatrous than this. 
Mr. Chiniquy, Avho was fifty years a Catholic and 
twenty-five years a priest, tells of the distress that 
befell Father Daule, of Canada, who one morning- 
after having consecrated the wafer — ^. e,, made a good 
god — was with closed eyes silently adoring it, when 
an impudent old rat crept quietly from his hiding 
place and stole the god from the altar. The old 
priest was filled with horror and dread at the sad re- 



14 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 



alization. Alas for such a god as can be stolen by 
rats! But this is Romanism, a compact that needs no 
reformation and that cannot be reformed. They get 
into this trouble by interpreting literally *' this is my 
body " and " this is my blood." This literal interpre- 
tation of the Scriptures often leads to the most fanat- 
ical ends. On the 20th of February, at New Haven, 
Conn., Avery Ferris, a young man, undertook to 
gouge out his right eye and then cut off his right 
hand because he thought that Matthew xviii. 8, 9 was 
to be understood literally. 

2. The Catholics hold to the invocation of saints, 
particularly the worship of the Virgin Mary, the 
mother of our Lord. They say that without her in- 
tercession there is no salvation. She and other 
saints are regarded as mediators. Nevertheless our 
Lord has said: "I am the way, the truth, and the 
life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." 
And again: "I am the door: by me if any man enter 
in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and 
find pasture." ''He that entereth not by the door 
into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, 
the same is a thief and a robber." Note the Saviour 
says that if any would climb up any other way, the 
same is a thief and a robber. He alone is the Door. 
To seek to enter in through the priests, pope, or 
Mary is to play the part of a thief. John, being over- 
whelmed by the apocalyptic vision, would have fallen 
at the feet of the angel, who showed him such great 
wonders, and worshiped him. But John says: "He 
said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellow-serv- 
ant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of 
Jesus: worship God." God alone is to be adored; 



ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 15 



and not bread, wine, Mary, or any other saint. 
Worse still, they worship the scapular, a piece of 
woolen cloth; relics — that is, the bones of saints and 
such things. The wrist bone of St. Anne, a joint of 
the finger of Thomas a Becket, a wisp of hair from 
the tail of Balaam's mule, the cross of the penitent 
thief, or the lantern of Judas Iscariot, Aaron's rod 
will do. It matters but little, just so it is a relic. 
It turns out that according to the reckoning of these 
people St. Matthew has eight arms, and St. John 
three. These wonderful people have the ark of the 
covenant that was in the wilderness, and the Saviour's 
teeth by the hundredweight. This is Catholicism as 
it was and as it is. No, I am told that such things 
are of the past. Nay, last year (1892), in the great 
city of New York, the newspapers reported multi- 
tudes worshiping the wrist bone of St. Anne. Broth- 
er Cavener, in a recent article in the Advocate, says 
that recently three boxes of the Saviour's teeth were 
sent from Rome to Mexico, weighing three hundred 
pounds; that each tooth was wrapped up separately 
and packed in a little box and sold at 50 cents each. 

3. Among the most mischievous and baneful, self- 
imposed, and unscriptural dogmas of Rome, stands 
the celibacy of the priests and nuns. This is plainly 
at variance with the original design of God and his 
expressed will. Hear this utterance: "And the Lord 
said. It is not good that the man should be alone; I 
will make him a helpmeet for him." Again we read 
in the Word: "Marriage is honorable in all." Let it 
be remembered that the apostles themselves were 
married. Even Peter, whom they claim as their first 
pope, was married, and also the ministers and saints 



16 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 



in the first centuries of the Christian Church. The 
celibacy of the priests and nuns is an unwarranted 
innovation upon society, fraught with the most dread- 
ful consequences. It is a reversal of the order of na- 
ture and in open opposition to God. Common sense, 
reason, logic, nature, experience, natural impulses, 
and revelation are against this practice. It is a sin 
against God, against society, and against humanity. 
The tendency is to deterioration. How can any 
practice that plainly contravenes God's word look to 
the sanctity and perfection of our nature? They tell 
us that they are holier than we. But alas! who can 
tell of the infamous sins committed in secret by these 
claimants to sanctity, which tend to the destruction 
of both soul and body? The eye of the reader glares 
and his heart sickens as he reads chapter after chap- 
ter of both sacred and profane history that describe, 
often in detail, some of the most revolting crimes 
traceable to celibacy. Be not deceived. God has not 
made any sect or class of men and women different 
from all others in the aptitudes of our nature. He 
who said that it is not good for man to be alone has 
given us a book, the Bible, which recognizes the 
marital relation, from Genesis to Revelation, without 
a squinting toward celibacy. Now as there are but 
two sources from which all things emanate, God and 
the devil, and as celibacy did not originate with God, 
it follows that it did originate with the devil. If it 
is of the devil, it can but be evil, and that continually. 
Did not the fiat go forth: ** Multiply, and replenish 
the earth?" Has not God enjoined the marital rela- 
tion? Hear the Word of God: "Have ye not read, 
that he which made them at the beginning made them 



ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 17 



male and female, and said, For this cause shall a man 
leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: 
and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they 
are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore 
God has joined together, let not man put asunder." 
The Catholics tell us that the bishops must not mar- 
ry, but God says: ''A bishop then must be blameless, 
the husband of one wife; . . . one that ruleth well his 
own house, having his children in subjection with all 
gravity." Speaking of the deacons, the Lord says: 
''Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling 
their children and their own houses w^ell;" "even so 
must their wives be grave." But the Catholics tell us 
that the priests, who answer for the deacons, must not 
marry. The apostle describes the Catholics in the 
following language: "Now the Spirit speaketh ex- 
pressly, that in the latter times some shall depart 
from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and 
doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; hav- 
ing their conscience seared with a hot iron; forbid- 
ding to marry." There it is from God in language 
that cannot be misunderstood. He says those w^ho 
forbid to marry — the Catholics — are seducing spirits, 
who teach the doctrines of devils. The second text 
that we placed at the beginning of these papers 
speaks of that man of sin "who opposeth and ex- 
alteth himself above all that is called God, or that is 
worshiped; so that as God sitteth in the temple of 
God, showing himself that he is God." Mr. Lepro- 
hon, a prominent priest of Canada, said to Mr. 
Chiniquy, in a conversation between the two: "You 
are correct when you say that we do not find any di- 
rect proof in the Bible to enforce the vows of those 
2 



18 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 



who desire to consecrate themselves to the service 
of the Church. But i£ we do not find the obligation 
of that vow in the Bible, we find it in the holy tradi- 
tions of the Church." Yes, if it is not in the Bible, 
it is in the traditions of men. The pope, the man of 
sin, takes the place of God, and commands and binds 
where God has given liberty. 

4. As an adjunct to celibacy auricular confession 
takes it place in this the most perfect system for 
handicapping the will, subjugating virtue, and en- 
slaving the ignorant and enriching the surplice that 
has ever cursed this fair earth. What do we under- 
stand by the confessional? Let the Roman bishop, 
Calloner, answer: ** By confession we mean a full and 
sincere accusation made to God's minister of all mor- 
tal sins which, after a diligent examination of con- 
science, a person can call to his remembrance." Of 
course this, as the other dogmas we have been exam- 
ining, has no warrant in the Scriptures. It is the 
confession of a penitent to a priest of all the sins of 
every character that have been committed, with a view 
to having them absolved. If all the sins of the pen- 
itent are not confessed, then the priest cannot forgive 
any of his sins. A thorough probing and searching 
inquiry is resorted to by the priest to assist in a full 
statement. Nothing must be kept back. It is a dif- 
ficult task for a blushing girl or a timid matron to 
unveil her inmost soul, and reveal even every hidden 
thought to a man, and talk to him on subjects and in 
a manner that she would not dare to speak to her 
most intimate female friend about. But there is no re- 
lief for the fair penitent. The priest, like an unmer- 
ciful vulture that lacerates the trembling lamb with his 



EOMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 19 



talons, continues to probe into the remotest corner 
of the delicate heart to find every thought, good or 
bad, every deed that has been committed, even the 
most secret. So the girl is forced to talk to a man 
about matters that she dare not mention to her moth- 
er; and married women in a way that outrages de- 
cency and outrivals heathenism. It is thus that these 
pirates of virtue, propriety, and delicacy carry on 
their revolting work at the expense of the shocked 
nerves of their fair penitents, and at the expense of 
deadened sensibility; for often the female penitent 
so far recoils from this inquisitorial tribunal as to 
stultify moral sensibility and suppress the truth, if 
not wholly disregard it. But Rome has fortified her- 
self for any and every emergency. The adroit priest 
knows how to mass his weapons and ply his engines 
until the walls of self-respect with which God has 
fortified his most estimable creature are broken down, 
and delicate subjects are made the theme of conver- 
sation. It requires a dreadful effort on the part of 
many, much agony of mind and deep distress of 
heart to so far suspend self-respect and override the 
barriers that modesty erects against the base assaults 
of the intruder, before the fair penitent can be in- 
duced to speak of indecent things that are unmen- 
tionable in public. 

But I am told that my picture is overdrawn. Nay, 
listen at the statement of Mr. Chiniquy, who was fif- 
ty years a Catholic and twenty-five years a priest, and 
who is undoubtedly a competent witness. He re- 
nounced Catholicism in April, 1858, and subsequently 
became a Presbyterian minister. He is a pious and 
learned man, and his testimony is conclusive, as he had 



20 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM, 



personal knowledge of the things of which he wrote. 
He tells us that not a few women will prevaricate 
through a lifetime rather than expose their secret 
thoughts and deeds to the view of their confessors. 
On page 22 of " The Priest, Woman, and Confession- 
al" he says: "More than once I have seen women 
fainting in the confessional box, who told me afterward 
that the necessity of speaking to an unmarried man 
on certain things, on which the most common laws of 
decency ought forever to seal their lips, had almost 
killed them. Not hundreds, but thousands of times 
I have heard from the lips of dying girls as well as of 
married women, the awful words: '* I am forever lost! 
All my past confessions and communications have 
been so many sacrileges. I have never dared to an- 
swer correctly the questions of my confessors; shame 
has sealed my lips and damned my soul! " Again he 
says: "I do here publicly challenge the whole E-oman 
Catholic priesthood to deny that the greater part of 
their female penitents remain a certain period of 
time — some longer, some shorter — under the most 
distressing state of mind." Again, ibid., page 26, he 
says: " It takes many years of the most ingenuous (I 
do not hesitate to call it diabolical) efforts on the 
part of priests to persuade their female penitents to 
speak on questions even pagan savages would blush 
to mention among themselves. . . . Not a single 
Catholic priest will dare to deny what I say on this 
matter." But alas! too many are led to speak freely 
and fully upon these subjects. Be it remembered 
that they must confess everything before they can 
be absolved by the priest, before he can pardon (?) 
their sins. Without this confession and absolution 



ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 21 



they cannot take the sacrament; hence it follows 
that they cannot be saved Who would dare deny 
that the auricular confession has an evil tendency and 
is often attended with the most fatal consequences to 
all concerned? Has not Rome sounded the tocsin 
through her theologians to her priests? Has not she 
said that the confession is a snare to virtue, a danger 
to humanity? Then if Rome herself admits that the 
confessional is a temptation to evil, a snare to virtue, 
may we not si^eak boldly against it? Is it not a duty 
to warn men against that wdiich is a snare and a 
temptation? The statistics showing the preponder- 
ance of illegitimate births in Roman Catholic coun- 
tries over Protestant countries stand as a potent wit- 
ness against this nefarious practice and other adjuncts 
of this system. But here let us pause while we hear 
from some personal witness. A poor, fallen girl camo 
to confess to Mr. Ohiniquy. She said: ''Before I 
■was seventeen years old, God knows that his angels 
were not more pure than I was." Then she alludes 
to a time when she made a confession to the chaplain 
of the nunnery, and to certain questions propounded 
by the chaplain, and proceeded to say: "This, the 
j&rst unchaste conversation of my life, plunged my 
thoughts into a sea of iniquity till then absolutely 
unknown to me; temptations of the most humiliating 
character assailed me for a w^eek, day and night; 
after which sins that I would blot out with my blood, 
if it were possible, overwhelmed my soul as with a 
deluge." Mark you, that this is the very tender care 
that Rome exercises over the tender ones committed 
to her protection and fostering care. But pursuing 
this subject, we will return to Mr. Chiniquy, who re- 



22 ROMANISM VERSUS TROTESTANTISM, 



fers to a conversation which he had with Father 
Baillargeon, then Curate of Quebec and afterward 
Archbishop of Canada. He says: " I told him frank- 
ly that several old and young priests had already 
come to confess to me, and that with the exception of 
two they had told me that they could not put those 
questions and hear the ansv/ers they elicited without 
falling into the most damnable sins." Mr. Chiniquy 
received the following answer from Mr. Baillargeon : 
"Such cases of the destruction of female virtue by 
the questions of the confessors is an unavoidable 
evil. It cannot be helped, for such questions are ab- 
solutely necessary in the greater part of the cases 
with which we have to deal." (*'The Priest, Wom- 
an, and Confessional," p. 40. ) The poor girl whose sad 
testimony we have quoted above said on her dying 
bed: "I pity the poor priests the day that our fa- 
thers will know what becomes of the purity of their 
daughters in the hands of their confessors. Father 
would surely kill my last two confessors if he could 
know how they have destroyed his poor child." All 
this is upon the statement of Mr. Chiniquy, who 
heard these words spoken from the lips of this dy- 
ing girl. Before leaving this subject allow me 
to introduce the testimony of Mr. Chiniquy once 
more. On page 64 of "The Priest, "Woman, and 
Coufessional" he says: "I have heard the confes- 
sions of more than two hundred priests, and I say the 
truth as God knows it. I must declare that only 
twenty-one had not to weep over the secret or public 
sins committed through the irresistible corrupting 
influences of auricular confession. I am now more 
than seventy-seven years old, and in a short time I 



ROMANISM VERSUS RROTESTANTISM. 23 



will be in my grave. I shall have to give an account 
of what I now say. Well, it is in the presence of my 
great Judge, with my tomb before my eyes, that I de- 
clare to the world that very few — yes, very few — priests 
escape from falling into the pit of the most horrible 
depravity the world has ever known through the con- 
fession of females." It is not because they are natu- 
rally worse than other men, but it is the result of the 
temptations with which they are brought in contact 
through the confessional. I am horrified at the con- 
templation of this direful subject. All this comes 
under the form and guise of Christianity. It has a 
taking element. It comes in splendor and in pomp. 
It comes v/ith the marks of the ages, with the ar- 
ray of sanctity, the semblance of beauty. Its splen- 
did ceremonies are tempting. It appears to have a 
captivating and frenzying effect ux)on those who are 
deceived by it. It is passing strange that despite all 
these abominations and outrageous indecencies and 
blighting corruptions of Catholicism, it is fostered 
and encouraged by the secular press of this country, 
and by people who claim to be members of some 
Protestant Church. 

5. The Church, — They tell us that they are the true 
Church of Christ — the only Church — that all others 
are heretics, who deserve nothing but death. They 
claim to base their succession upon the apostle Peter. 
They hold that Matthew xvi. 18, 19 refers to Peter as 
the foundation of the Church. Let us examine the 
text: " Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build 
my church; . . . and I will give unto thee the 
keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou 
shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and 



24 KOMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 



whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed 
in heaven." They contend that the Saviour referred 
to Peter when he said, " upon this rock I will build 
my Church," that the keys were delivered to Peter, 
and that he was the first pope, and that the popes 
have descended from him in a regular line of succes- 
sion down to the present pope, Leo XIII. We can 
imagine nothing more empty than this claim. In the 
first place, they have not agreed among themselves 
as to the meaning of the text. They say and unsay. 
One theory is that the 'Saviour referred to Peter's 
faith when he said, " Upon this rock I will build my 
church;" another is that he referred to Peter; and 
another is that he referred to himself. All these 
views have in turn been supjported by bishops, coun- 
cils, and popes. A little attention to the original can- 
not but convince us that rock stands for Christ. The 
text reads: "Thou art Petros, and u^jon this j^etra I 
will build my Church." Kock cannot refer to Petros 
(Peter), for its antecedent for Petros is masculine, 
while petra (rock) is feminine. The distinction has 
been marked by some, found in classic Greek, he- 
iviQQW petra (the massive, living rock) and Petros (a 
detached but large fragment). In this text they do 
not and cannot mean the same thing. Pock (Hebrew 
tsitr) is often figuratively used for God, as in Deuter- 
onomy xxxii. 4: "He is the Bock, his work is per- 
fect." Nothing is said of Peter that is not said of 
the other apostles. Authority to preach, to proclaim 
the terms of salvation, is referred to by the keys of 
the kingdom. All ministers are charged with this 
responsibility, and men are bound or loosened by the 
words that they proclaim. So we see two links fall 



ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 25 



from this chain of succession. Again, it does not ap- 
pear that Peter was ever at Rome. This is an open 
question, that remains to be proved; and as the evi- 
dence is wanting to prove this assumption (for, in- 
deed, it is nothing more), it cannot be proved. So 
their high claim fails at another point. Moreover, if 
their claim was true as far as we have gone with this 
argument, still they could not get back to Peter with 
their chain of succession, for on several occasions 
there were two, and more than once three, contending 
popes, each claiming at the same time to be in the 
identical pontifical chair that Peter occupied. These 
disputes they could not settle among themselves, for 
each claimant had his supporters among the bishops 
and councils. So their high claim became a confu- 
sion of confusions, and left the question of succession 
like the confounding of tongues or languages at the 
tower of Babel. Alas for them, while the pope, the 
man of sin, exalts himself as the vicegerent of God 
and assumes the functions of God, the head of the 
Church, with power to absolve sins and to retain 
them, with power to save men in heaven or to send 
them to hell, they are confronted by the appalling 
records of their past history, which is shocking in the 
extreme! Some of the claimants for Peter's place 
were as corrupt characters as ever disgraced this earth. 
Some of them climbed to the pontifical chair through 
simony, intriguery, deception, and bloodshed. While 
they assumed the sanctimonious air of saints, their 
hands were reeking with the blood of their innocent 
victims. The names of these tyrants can be easily 
called. 

How vain the claim of these priests, bishops, and 



26 KOMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 



popes: "I absolve your sins!" Sucli sacrilege! 
iSucli pretensions are befitting the Dark Ages, but 
should find no adherents in this enlightened age. It is 
monstrous! Christ was meek and lowly, and dis- 
claimed any authority over the civil government, but 
submitted to rulers and the existing civil government. 
He said: " My kingdom is not of this world." But 
these pretentious and dictatorial popes claim the right 
to govern the temporal affairs of men as well as to con- 
trol their spiritual destiny. When they have had the 
power, which they have ever sought to have, they 
have tyrannized over emperors, kings, and governors. 
Listen for a moment at the ostentatious claim as set 
up here in our own country by Cardinal Manning in 
one of his lectures. He speaks for the pope: **I 
acknowledge no civil power, am subject to no prince. 
I am more than this. I claim to be the supreme dic- 
tator of the conscience of men: of the peasant who 
tills his field and of the prince who sits upon his 
throne, of the household that lives in the shades of 
privacy and of the legislator that makes laws for the 
kingdom. I am the sole, last, supreme judge of all 
that is right or wrong." ( " Fifty years a Catholic," p. 
372. ) Compare this high claim with the statement 
of Paul, who enjoins submission to civil authorities: 
"Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. 
For there is no power but of God." (Kom. xiii. 1, 2. ) 
Again he says: " Put them in mind to be subject to 
principalities and powers, to obey magistrates." The 
Bible teaches obedience to civil law, but Catholicism 
teaches obedience to the pope only. The Bible 
teaches, ''He that is greatest among you shall be 
your servant. And whosoever shall exalt himself 



ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 27 



shall be abased." How different the doctrines of 
Eome! Again we read: "And call no man your fa- 
ther upon earth; for one is your Father, which is in 
heaven." 

But the Pope claims to be above all law, civil and 
ecclesiastical. "I am the sole, last, and supreme 
judge of what is right or wrong." No appeal from 
this soveregn arbiter. This means death to all liber- 
ty, civil and religious. "I have the Urim and the 
Thummim; all is darkness and death besides me." 
Away with the audacious pretense, investing, asit does, 
all authority in one man! It is the most arrogant, 
subtile, and invidious ever conceived by man. It 
lies at the bottom of the most complete system for 
handicapping and enslaving men, souls and bodies, 
that could be devised. It is at once the most ingen- 
ious and complete system for the utter ruin of men 
and women, and the most dishonoring to God, of any- 
thing that has ever cursed this fair earth. And yet 
this enemy of all good — the traducer of purity, the 
foe of God and ally of hell — is fast taking this coun- 
try, as we shall prove before we are done with this 
subject. 

6. This peculiar claim to apostolic succession leads 
to intolerance and bloodshed. I have put the verb in 
the present tense — leads to intolerance and bloodshed! 
I have neither the time nor the disposition to travel 
over the occult history of the past, and recite many 
of the heartrending scenes of agony and death in- 
flicted by Eome upon those who dared to differ from 
her in doctrine and practice. The shock to the refined 
sensibilities of this age would be too great a strain 
upon the nerves to dwell long on the subject, but I 



28 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 



must detain you for a brief review. It is claimed that 
the nerves of this great nation were shocked at the 
condign punishment — yea, the cruel torture — that 
fell upon the negro culprit who outraged innocence 
and transcended the utmost limit of diabolical deeds 
known to men. As to the method and extent of his 
punishment men may differ; but all are agreed that 
he should have suffered death. But when we travel 
back but comparatively a few years in the past, we 
see men and women, good men and pious women, 
suffering as horrible death by torture and otherwise, 
as did Henry Smith,* at the instance of sanctimoni- 
ous Bome, and that, too, for no other cause than that 
they differed from Rome in doctrine. 

Take the case of Priscillian, who suffered martyr- 
dom under Leo I. A.R 449-61; "They tore off his 
hair and skin of his skull; they burned him with hot 
irons on all parts of his body, and poured upon his 
w^ounds boiling oil and melted lead; and at last 
plunged into his entrails a rod heated in the fire. He 
expired after two hours of frightful suffering." What 
was his crime? Refusing to relinquish his convic- 
tions of faith and submit himself to the pontiff of 
Rome. But I am told that this is an antiquated 
transaction; that Rome has reformed. Pray tell 
me: When did she reform? and who has brought 
this reformation about? Do they not tell us that 
their Charch needs no reformation; that it has never 
gone astray; that it is and ever has been the true 
Church of Christ, and being such cannot possibly do 
wrong? Do they not tell us that the pope is infalli- 
ble, and consequently free from mistakes? Then, of 

* The negro who was tortured to death at Paris, Tex. 



EOMANISM VEESUS PROTESTANTISM. 29 



course, all the crimes which the Church has perpe- 
trated in the past is sanctioned by them. Who ever 
heard of a pope, bishop, or priest acknowledging to an 
error, or admitting that the Church needed reforma- 
tion in any particular? On the contrary, they vehe- 
mently affirm continually that they cannot do wrong; 
that they have not done wrong; that all their past 
deeds are just and right. 

But let us come nearer our time: Pope Paul IV., 
who was pontiff from 1557 to 1559, says: " The Inqui- 
sition is the only means of destroying heresy, and 
the only fort of the apostolic see." And accordingly 
victims were sacrificed to gratify his malicious hate. 
They were put to the rack; the pulley was employed; 
a thin cloth was laid over the face and water dropped 
from a height into the mouth, so that the cloth grad- 
ually sunk down to the throat and produced the very 
agonies of suffocating death. Fire was applied, cords 
and screws; the tongues were pulled out, and all con- 
ceivable agonies were endured. Among the victims of 
cruel Rome is Huss, who died with a chain about his 
neck fastened to a stake, where he was burned on the 
6th of July, 1415. He was murdered because he un- 
dertook to reform the Church, acting from the prompt- 
ings of conscience. It was on the 16th day of Octo- 
ber, 1555, that Hugh Latimer and Ridley perished 
at the stake, being burned with fire. Why did 
Rome put them to death? Because they held that 
the body and blood of Christ were not present in the 
bread and the wine of the sacrament. Time fails to 
tell of the death of Pascal and thousands of others, 
who were murdered for differing from Rome in doc- 
trine and in practice. Our cheeks burn with right- 



30 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 



eous indignation at the perfidy of the Jesuits and 
their allies as we recount the bloody massacre of St. 
Bartholomew's day. This was on the 24:th day of 
August, 1572. On this day from 20,000 to 100,000 
defenseless and unoffending people were cruelly butch- 
ered by order of the so-called holy (?) Church of 
Rome. These were Huguenots — French Protestants. 
But still it is held that that age is past and the 
Catholic Church has reformed. Again I repeat that 
this Church cannot reform, for the reason that they 
would have to surrender their claim to infallibility. I 
defy any man to point out to me in any book, paper, 
magazine, tractate, or circular where Home has ex- 
punged a single doctrine, tenet, dogma, or changed a 
principle. In doctrine, in dogma, in principle — in a 
word, in everything that constitutes an organic body 
or compact — Rome is to-day what she has always 
been; the same now as when she executed Wicklif, 
Huss, Latimer, and Eidley; the same to-day as she 
was when she planned and executed the massacre of 
the Huguenots. The only thing that now saves the 
heads of the Protestants from the fatal guillotine, or 
their bodies from the stake, is the majesty of the 
civil law. 

He who flatters himself that Rome has learned a 
higher theology, a better morality, that she has ad- 
vanced to a purer type of Christianity, does not 
know Rome. If any who may doubt the conclusions 
this manner of reasoning has led us to will carefully 
study the history of the past and read the signs of 
the times, all skepticism will vanish and they will 
be forced to the foregoing conclusions. Rome re- 
formed? Imx)ossible! Let us see. In 1888 there 



ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 31 

was a general assembly of all missionaries of all de- 
nominations in Mexico. It was then and there as- 
certained that over sixty Protestants had suffered 
martyrdom at the hands of the Catholics during a 
period of twenty-five years preceding that conference. 
You tell me that Eome has reformed? I ask again: 
When and where did she reform? and from what and 
to what did she reform? Let us see. Miss Blanche 
Gilbert, a missionary of the M. E. Church, South 
(our Church), stationed at El Paso, in her introduc- 
tory to "Danger Signals," a book written by L. L. 
Pickett, says: "The Virgin Mary is the real god of 
Mexico. It is claimed that she, being the mother of 
God and the source of his person, is superior to him, 
and that no favor can be obtained except through 
her." They not only worship Mary, but other saints 
are worshijoed in the United States as well as in 
Mexico. Eelics as well as saints are worshiped. 
Remember that it was but last year (1892), in the 
great city of New York, that the wrist bone of St. 
Annie (?) was adored by hundreds of Catholics. 
They hold to transubstantiation, purgatory, infalli- 
bility, the traditions of the Church, and the binding 
authority of superiors as they have always done. 
Moreover, they oppose the Bible now as ever. Lis- 
ten to this statemeDt from Mr. Chiniquy, who, of all 
others, as we have already seen, is a competent wit- 
ness, having been a Catholic fifty years and a priest 
twenty-five: '^Eome is the same to-day as she was 
when she burned John Huss and Wishart, and when 
she caused seventy thousand Protestants to be slaugh- 
tered in France, and one hundred thousand to be ex- 
terminated in Piedmont, Italy, On December 31, 



32 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM, 



1869, I forced the Rt. Eev. Bisliop Foley, of Chicago, 
to swear before the civil court at Kankakee that the 
following sentence was an exact translation of the 
doctrine of the Church of Rome, as taught to-day in 
the Roman Catholic seminaries, colleges, and univer- 
sities, through the *Summa Theologica' of Thomas 
Aquinas, Volume IV., page 90. * Though heretics 
must not be tolerated because they deserve it, we must 
bear with them till, by a second admonition, they 
may be brought back to the faith of the Church. 
But those v/ho, after a second admonition, remain 
obstinate to their errors, must not only be excom- 
municated, but they must be delivered to the secular 
power to be exterminated.' It is on account of this 
law of the Church of Rome, which is to-day in full 
force, as it was promulgated from the first time, that 
not less than thirty public attempts have been made 
to kill me since my conversion." These attempts 
were made upon Mr. Chiniquy's life in Quebec, 
Montreal, Ottawa, Charlottetown, Halifax, and other 
places. He says that the first time he visited Que- 
bec, in the spring of 1859, fifty men were sent by 
Bishop Baillargeon to force him to swear that he 
would never preach the Bible, or that if he refused 
they would kill him. 

7. Evidence of Catholic Intolerance Continued, — "Would 
you have further evidence of the vile propagandism of 
Rome to the subjugation of everything like liberty of 
conscience and personal rights? Then listen at this: 
In the Texas Christian Advocate of February 9 we find 
the following, taken from the Central Christian Ad- 
vocate: "Rev. Justas H. Nelson, our missionary in 
Para, Brazil, writes from St. Joseph's jail, in that 



ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 33 



city, January 5, 1893, as follows: 'To-day completes 
my first month in jail of the four to which I was 
sentenced for calling the worship of the Virgin Mary 
idolatry.' " And yet we are told that Rome has re- 
formed! No, my readers, no! The question is: Has 
she one policy in Mexico and Brazil, and another in 
the United States? If so, why? The answer is 
easy : she adroitly changes her policy to suit the con- 
dition of things. It was possible for her to put some 
Protestants to death in Mexico during the past three 
decades; and it is possible for her to imprison Prot- 
estants in Brazil for inveighing against her dogmas. 
In the United States they have not yet the power to 
do these things. The opportunity is all that is need- 
ed; the will and decree exist. It is the same Church 
in Mexico, in Brazil, and in the United States; and, 
as to that, everywhere else. The same doctrines, 
principles, and polity exist, and the same spirit 
prompts. But still we are told that Rome has re- 
formed, that she is now tolerant, that she is in ac- 
cord with the liberties of this country, that her mem- 
bers are among our best and most loyal citizens. 
Again^ I ask, when did she reform? Where may I 
get the evidence of her reformation? While you 
peruse the histories of the past and examine the an- 
nals of the present, let me give you a few quotations 
from Catholic papers published in the United States 
during the last half of this century: "The Church is 
instituted, as every Catholic who understands his re- 
ligion believes, to guard and defend the right of God 
against any and every enemy at all times and at all 
places. She therefore does not and cannot accept, 
or in any degree favor, liberty in the Protestant 
3 



34 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 



sense of liberty." {Catholic World, 1870.) "Prot- 
estantism has not, and never can have, any right 
where Catholicity has triumphed." {Catholic Review, 
June, 1865.) Hear this: "Religious liberty is mere- 
ly endured until the opposite can be carried into 
effect without peril to the Catholic Church." (Kt. 
Kev. O'Connor, Bishop of Pittsburg. ) 

The Et. Rev. Bishop Oliv Vanderveld, Bishop of 
Chicago, 111., wrote to Mr. Chiniquy, who was then a 
stanch Catholic priest, on the first day of December, 
1850, the following: "the Protestants, always divided 
among themselves, will never form any strong party 
without the help of the united vote of our people; 
and that party alone which will ask and get our help, 
by yielding to our just demands, will rule this coun- 
try. Then in reality, though not in appearance, our 
holy Church will rule the United States, as she is 
called by our Saviour himself to rule the whole 
world." Let your mind rest upon these statements, 
while I call attention to the following prophecies and 
manifestoes relative to the great danger that this 
country is in. Gen. Lafayette is reported to have 
said: "If the liberties of the American people are 
ever destroyed, they will fall by the hand of the Catho- 
lic clergy." The following we quote from Catholic 
authorities found in "Fifty Years in the Catho- 
lic Church:" "Undoubtedly it is the intention of 
the pope to possess this country. In this inten- 
tion he is aided by the Jesuits and all the Catho- 
lic priests and prelates." {Brownson's Revieiv, May, 
1864. ) " For our own part we take this opportunity 
to express our delight at the suppression of the Prot- 
estant Chapel at Rome. This may be thought in- 



BOMANISM VEESUS PROTESTANTISM. 35 



tolerant, but ivhen ive ask, Did we propose to he tolerant 
of Protestantism, or favor the question that Protestant- 
ism ought to he tolerated? On the contrary, we hate 
Protestantism. We detest it with our whole heart 
and soul, aud we pray that our aversion for it may 
never decrease." {Pittshurg Catholic Visitor, July, 
1848, official journal of the bishop.) I have Itali- 
cized the words, '' When did we propose to be tolerant 
of Protestantism, or favor the question that Protest- 
antism ought to be tolerated? " This is well put from 
a Catholic standpoint. As we repeat the question^ 
When did they ever propose to be tolerant of Prot- 
testantism ? the reverberation returns from sea to sea, 
from island to island, from continent to continent, 
When did they ever profess to be tolerant of Protest- 
antism? Let every reader treasure up these state- 
ments. They are of vital interest to the people of 
this country. Disguise this subject as you may, 
there is an insidious foe right here in our midst, and 
all over this fair land of ours, awaiting an oppor- 
tanity to deal death to all that is sacred to us — yea, 
to our lives also. 

Listen to another one of these statements, full of 
the virus of perdition, emanating from the bottom- 
less pit. It is from the Boston Pilot, an official jour- 
nal of another bishop: ''No good government can 
exist without religion, and there can be no religion 
without an inquisition, which is wisely designed for 
the protection and promotion of the true faith." 
Does this look like Rome has reformed; that she 
has modified her policy in fact; that she is less in- 
clined to persecute now than in the ages past? Once 
more, give heed to this sepulchral voice that speaks 



36 BOMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 



words which portend evil, premonitions of death. 
They are not the empty words of a blatant novice, 
but those of a subtle generalissimo, an expert ma- 
nipulator. *' See, sir, from this chamber I govern, 
not only to Paris, but to China; not only to China, 
but to all the world, without any one knowing how 
I do it." These are the words of Tambriorini, gen- 
eral of the Jesuits. Time and distance have modi- 
fied the dread of Catholicism. Men have ceased to 
look upon this institution in its true light. They 
have grown unmindful of the mighty prowess that 
has subdued kingdoms and conquered princes; they 
see Catholicism in a false light. If they could only 
see this subtle enemy of all righteousness under- 
mining the very ground upon which they stand with 
a feeling of security, as unsuspecting as that of the 
people of ancient Pompeii, until the mighty convul- 
sion had enveloped them, they would flee from the 
smoldering fires pent up in this dreadful volcano in 
time to escape the mighty catastrophe. 

8. But let lis proceed to notice that corruption is the 
outgrowth of this heterogeneous conglomeratioyi of non- 
sense and profanity. (1) This is just what we would 
expect of a system of religion that has no higher 
foundation than that of man. We have already seen 
that the pope is the sole arbiter. All must obey his 
mandates. The Bible is secondary and must be in- 
-terpreted according to the standard that the Church 
has erected. That the reader may see that I am cor- 
rect in this statement, I will quote a paragraph from 
"Danger Signals," by Kev. L. L. Pickett, which he 
quotes from "Grounds of Catholic Doctrine," page 4. 
Eemembor that this is a Catholic production. " I also 



ROMANISM VEESUS PROTESTANTISM. 87 



admit the Holy Scripture to the sense which our holy 
mother the Church has held and does hold; to which 
it belongs to judge of the true sense and interpreta- 
tion of the Scriptures; neither will I ever take and 
interpret them otherwise than according to the unan- 
imous consent of the fathers." Thus you see that no 
Catholic has a right to read the Scripture for himself. 
His interpretation of a text must be governed by the 
united consent of the Fathers. He cannot say, "I 
believe this or that because I see it so stated in the 
Bible;" but he must say, "The Church says this, 
therefore I believe it." Hence true manhood cannot 
rise up and assert itself, but is handicapped by tradi- 
tion. Under this system there can be no independ- 
ence, no liberty, either of thought or of action. Ev- 
ery one is tied down to this dictum — to demur is her- 
esy. In fact, the judgment of men becomes the rule 
of action rather than the statement of truth contained 
in the Word of God. Again, the danger of this hier- 
archy will be apparent when we consider the fact that 
every good Catholic is bound to implicitly obey all 
the commands of all superiors. Liguori, one of their 
theologians, says that whosoever obeys his superior 
for the love of God obeys God himself, and that 
there are more merits to obey one's own superior 
than God himself. Yes, their duped subjects are 
taught that it is better to obey one of their priests, 
bishops, or popes than to obey God. And, moreover, 
it matters not what a superior commands a mem- 
ber to do, however sinful the act may be per se, it is 
not sinful to the obedient Catholic. If an inferior 
should be commanded to commit murder, adultery, 
or tell a falsehood, it would be a virtuous act so far 



38 BOMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 



as the inferior is concerned. The reader can see, at 
once, how such a system may be abused, how it may 
be made to subserve the most diabolical ends. It 
has led, and does lead, to the most outrageous acts 
against God and humanity. It would take a miracle 
to prevent such an. end. (2) The concomitants and 
appendages o£ Catholicism are such that corruption 
must necessarily be the result. The celibacy of the 
priests and nuns is a constant snare and menace to 
virtue, connected as it is with auricular confession. 
The most horrible book that I ever read is Maria 
Monk's "Awful Disclosures," a book dictated by an 
escaped nun from a nunnery in Montreal. Mr, Chi- 
niquy says that he went to the hospital '* Dieu of 
Montreal " to be treated for some indisposition in the 
spring of 1847, and there met one of the superiors of 
the nunnery, whose family name was Urtubise, and 
had much talk with her. He asked her if she had 
known Maria Monk when she was in their house, and 
w^hat she thought of the book of "Awful Disclos- 
ures? " "I have known her well," she said. " She 
spent six months with us. I have read her book, 
which was given me that I might refute it. But aft- 
er reading it I refused to have anything to do with 
that deplorable exposure. There are truly some in- 
ventions and superstitions in that book. But there 
is sufficient amount of truth to cause all the nunner- 
ies to be pulled down by the people, if only half of 
them were known to the public! " ("Fifty years in 
the Catholic Church," p. 441.) Yes, if only half of 
the diabolical deeds that I read in that book be true 
— and I believe from the evidence before me that 
they are true — and the people could only know the 



KOMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 39 



facts connected with these precincts of pollution, the 
cesspools of pandemonium, they would be immediate- 
ly leveled to the ground. We have already seen that 
the auricular confession is an ally of immorality. A 
more complete system for the downfall of virtue 
cannot be conceived, I dare say; born of the most 
fiendish purposes, or else speedily perverted to such 
an end. When we peruse the pages of history, we 
find them stained with the iniquitous lives of the 
popes, bishops, and priests and their subjects. The 
fact is, these men — the professed head of the Church 
on the earth — these men who say, "We are holier 
than thou," many of them were guilty of all manner 
of the darkest crimes. They were guilty of simony, in- 
triguery, craftiness, deception, avarice, maliciousness, 
dishonesty, falsehood, fornication, adultery, and in- 
directly of murder. It is not difficult to cite special 
cases, for there are many recorded on the pages of 
history. It also stands on the pages of history that 
many of the Catholic clergy were skeptical, un- 
chaste, and intemperate. Here in our midst you 
may find almost any day a holy father (?) in a sa- 
loon. They now often revel in beastly intoxication 
here in our own Southland. Some of the most re- 
volting orgies of which I have read have been de- 
scriptions of the bacchanalian feasts of the Catholic 
clergy on this side of the Atlantic during the pres- 
ent century. These are the men we are asked to 
respect and reverence as the accredited ministers of 
God. This is the system that the editors of secular 
papers, professed Protestants, f awningly indorse and 
encourage. They tell us of the devotion of these 
sons of Belial — their chivalry and philanthropic 
deeds. tempora ! mores ! 



40 KOMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 



9. The avariciousness of the prelates stop not on 
this side of the tomb. They even speculate on the 
souls of the dead. The poor, deluded, but honest 
dupes frequently rob themselves to pay the priests 
to say mass to get the soul of some departed one 
out of purgatory. The price charged for the clever 
little job depends upon the purse of the devotee. 
From one to any number of dollars is charged 
and paid. This merchandise of souls brings into 
the coifers of the clergy quite a nice revenue. An 
amusing anecdote is told of a young Irishman whose 
father had died. He paid the priest a handsome 
sum to pray his father out of purgatory. The priest 
became dissatisfied with the amount paid, and came 
back for more money. The youngster asked the 
priest what progress he had made in getting his fa- 
ther out. The i^riest replied that he had succeeded 
in getting him all out but about midway his legs 
and his feet. " 0," said the young man, " my father 
was very active in life; and if he is that near out, he 
can jump out; so I'll pay no more." A wise conclu- 
sion that. 

Mr. Chiniquy gives a painful account of the avari- 
ciousness of Mr. Courtois, the parish priest of Mur- 
ray Bay, wdio was his mother's priest at the time of 
his father's death. The death of Charles Chiniquy, 
the father of L'Abbe Chiniquy, prostrated his wife 
with grief, so much so that she was unable to attend 
the funeral of her husband. A few days after this 
sad event, while the heart of this poor widow was 
bleeding with grief, her priest, Mr. Courtois, paid 
her a visit; not to soothe the grief -stricken heart, 
not to embalm the deep wounds of sad bereavement 



ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 41 



with the ointment of sympathy, not to lift the burden 
from the soul oppressed with sorrow; but to sternly 
demand payment of the poor widow for the mass said 
for the soul of her deceased husband, Mrs. Chini- 
quy protested that she had nothing with which to 
pay the fee charged; that her husband left no money, 
but, on the contrary, he left debts to be liquidated. 
Said the priest: ''But, madam, the masses offered 
for the rest of your husband's soul must be paid." 
"After a long silence," says Mr. Ohiniquy, "my 
mother raised her eyes, reddened with tears, on the 
priest, and said: "Sir, you see that cow in the mead- 
ow, not far from our house ? Her milk and the but- 
ter made from it form the principal part of my chil- 
dren's food. I hope you will not take her away from 
us. If, however, such a sacrifice must be made to de- 
liver my poor husband's soul from purgatory, take 
her as payment for the masses to be offered to extin- 
guish those devouring flames.'" The poor, duped 
widow could not believe that this professed son of 
God had the hardihood to rob her of almost her only 
subsistence, but, alas! she did not correctly estimate 
the cupidity of her priest. Despite the protestations 
of the widow and her children as expressed by their 
tears and sobs, the heartless man drove the cow away 
to his own home. It is objected that this is but a 
single instance of such perfidy and cupidity. Nay, 
rather it is e plurihits iinum. The same author gives 
another instance in which Mr. le Cure, a rich curate, 
with several thousand dollars to his credit in the 
bank, exacted of one of his poor parishioners five 
dollars to sing high mass for his wife, who had just 
died and whom he believed to be in purgatory. The 



42 BOMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM, 



poor man insisted that lie was too poor to pay the 
five dollars. The curate replied: "If yon cannot 
P^-y? you cannot have any mass sung. You know it is 
the rule. It is not in my power to change it." This 
matter ended by this half-clad peasant giving the 
curate one of two pigs which had been giving him by 
a friend to make meat for his helpless children for 
the coming winter. The consideration was that the 
curate should say five low masses to rescue the soul 
of his deceased wife from purgatorial flames. The 
priest had the pig roasted for dinner the next day, 
when he made a joke of the transaction by jocosely 
saying that if he could not pray the soul of the man's 
wife out of purgatory he with his guests could eat 
his pig. There is no abatement of this monstrous 
practice. The priests practice the same tricks to-day, 
to extort from the pockets of the hardy sons of toil, 
that they practiced in the ages agone. Not long since 
a gentleman died in the city of Galveston. He was 
supposed to be quite wealthy. His wife was a mem- 
ber of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The 
Catholics made an abortive attempt to control the 
burial services of the deceased husband that they 
might profit materially. But for the timely interfer- 
ence of the Methodist pastor they would have suc- 
ceeded in consummating their fraud. The wonder is 
that in this intelligent age — in this age of science, 
literature, and cultivated religious thought — such an 
audacious humbug can find any credence whatever. 
But such is the folly of our race that many appear to 
enjoy humbuggery, themselves being the dupes. 



CHAPTER III. 

Specious Pretensions to Charity — Works of Charity — Pohcy of 
the Cathohc Church m America. 

EoME has ever been fruitful in resources. When 
necessary, she can aj)ply the torch or the guillotine, 
work a miracle, exhibit the wrist bone of St. Anne or 
the cranium of St. Paul. She becomes all things to 
all men that she may deceive many. So adroit is she, 
that you can only see a smooth surface when beneath 
are the shimmering fires of a dreadful conflagration. 
Of all the shrewd detectives and adroit schemers the 
world has ever produced, the Jesuits lead the van. 
More stealthy than the tread of the hoarfrost; more 
fascinating than the gentle zephyr that steals through 
your window at the hour of midnight, freighted with 
miasma that fastens upon the vitals; more terrific 
and devastating than the mighty sweep of the cy- 
clone; more withering and deathlike than the dread 
sirocco. Thus she becomes all things to all condi- 
tions in order to fasten her cords around the victim 
she means to destroy. 

When she assumes the phase of charity, mercy, 
and love, she rivals the deeds of the Good Samaritan. 
Yes, when anything is to be to her gain, she is ready 
to every good work. If dangers are to be braved — 
some deadly contagion to be confronted — Rome is on 
the ground to furnish her pro rata of daring spirits 
as martyrs to the cause of perishing humanity. And 
the world stands with bated breath before this tyrant, 

(43) 



44 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM, 



crimson witli the blood of the innocent, to admire 
the chivalry — aye, the philanthropy and parental 
affection — as seemeth manifest by this mother of har- 
lots and abominations. 

1. Yes, I am cited to their work of charity, as though 
by this Rome can expiate the blood of murdered in- 
nocence and the besmirched characters that she has 
wrecked and destroyed along the track of time. 
Are you deceived by this pretended virtue? May 
not her true animus be seen and read in all this 
specious show of charity? Earth has never pro- 
duced an army so well regulated as the Boman hi- 
erarchy. No martial genius ever surpassed the skill 
of these tacticians. Their priests and Sisters of 
Charity face contagious diseases under the command 
of the powers that be. It is the policy of the 
Church, as the most effectual means of propagan- 
dism, to make this show of self-sacrifice and disre- 
gard of personal safety for the good of others. 
These priests and Sisters are under the necessity of 
administering to the sick and dying, just as soldiers 
are under the necessity of facing grape and canister 
on the battlefield. Military commanders, the bayo- 
net, and the court-martial are behind the soldiers, 
so that if principle and duty be not a sufficient in- 
centive, then the logic of duty is found in the 
stronger forces named. Behind the priests and the 
Sisters of the Bom an hierarchy are the Jesuits, ex- 
communication, and, as they believe, the damnation 
of the soul to all eternity. It is a part of their sys- 
tem to make this display of devotion and charity to 
the unfortunate of our race, to give them prestige, 
to gain and retain power. They deserve no credit 



ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 45 



for their good works, for they are not voluntary, 
they are constrained, mere mechanical performances, 
a part of a well-regulated system of propagandism. 
They do not proceed from a love for the unfortu- 
nate, but they act as factors in an automatic ma- 
chine. These priests and Sisters are the working 
force of a most wonderful organism; which has with 
a ruthless hand deposed kings, ignored principalities, 
despised liberty, condemned the Bible; and held in 
contempt conscience, personal rights, and virtue. 
Through the kindness of the editor, I have before 
me a rare communication written for publication in 
the Advocate in reply to my articles in which the 
writer assumes that Mr. Chiniquy was not such a 
priest as administered to lepers, smallpox patients, 
etc. And then he proceeds to tell of the fidelity of 
a priest ho heard of in Houston, Tex., who attended 
the smallpox pesthouse. This is the old, old story 
that has been repeated until it is threadbare. I am 
sick and tired of this ruse. Only the duped will 
see devotion in these acts of charity. The wise will 
see the hand of craft, the glamour of perfidy. Let 
me say here that Mr. Chiniquy was one of the purest 
and best priests of which the Catholics could boast 
while he was among them. The writer referred to 
above thinks it is *4ow dovv^n to meddle with people 
confessing their sins," and then adds, "I notice in 
life those women who confess to the priests are faith- 
ful wives, their husbands have no cause for a di- 
vorce from them." The writer of these lines ap- 
pears to forget that the evil complained of, growing 
out of auricular confession, is a secret evil, which those 
who are blind like himself cannot see. There are 



46 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 



none so blind as those who will not see. Catholic 
husbands are as blind to the dangers of the confes- 
sional as are Catholic fathers. If they could only- 
see the danger as it is, this business would have to 
stop. 

2. The policy of the Roman Church in America noiv 
claims our attention for a time. To deceive, delude, 
and destroy is her purpose. To this end she has 
planned well and executes faithfully. We have al- 
ready seen that she makes a show of charity when- 
ever it is possible for her to do so. When pos- 
sible they erect hospitals, and get charge of all oth- 
ers they possibly can. These are presided over by 
the Sisters of Charity with devotion and sancti- 
monious air. The question is not whether there 
are many honest, sincere, and even pious Catholics 
who go about their work with a devotion befitting 
a more intelligent apprehension of the truth — all 
this is granted — but the true animus is back of the 
guileless woman that serves in these infirmaries. 
The intent is found in the ordinaries, the priests, 
archbishops, primates, patriarchs, Jesuits, and popes. 
These plan, and the Sisters execute. They serve not 
only wath womanly skill, but no doubt often with 
afi'ection, smoothing down the rugged brow and 
brushing away the falling tear. They are ready with 
snow-white hands to pour oil on the mangled form of 
some unfortunate, wounded by accident or the butt of 
vengeance, or to cool the parched lips of the victim 
of some malignant fever. Thousands go into the 
hospitals for medical treatment and the attention of 
these experienced nurses. After a few weeks, or even 
days, of kind attention from these Sisters, a lasting 



ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 47 



obligation is created that can hardly be canceled. 
However blunt the sense of gratitude, or strong the 
dislike and preconceived abhorrence of Catholicism 
may have been, such kind treatment cannot but have 
its effect. From henceforth the recipient of these fa- 
vors goes forth either a confirmed Catholic, a devo- 
tee of the pope, or else his opposition to Catholicism 
is neutralized. Now he has nothing but kind words 
for the Sisters of Charity and the good father priest, 
whose attentions were never ceasing throughout the 
period of his suffering. All the services and atten- 
tion rendered by these Sisters and priests are cred- 
ited to the Church, and the inference is that all 
this charity is the natural result of the great, gush- 
ing heart of love incorporate in the Catholic Church. 
Do you now see through this strategy? For such 
it is. 



CHAPTEE IV. 

Eoman Proselytism through Her Educational System — En- 
slaves the Intellect — Perfidy — Success — Education Inferior. 

1. Besting your mind for the 'present on the fore- 
going statements^ attend while I p'-oceed to mention the 
second scheme for the subjugation of this government 
to the pope. Institutions of learning are conducted 
on the cheapest plans possible for the education 
of the youths of this land. It is a significant fact 
that Rome has ever opposed the education of the 
raasses. No well-informed man will assert to the 
contrary. I mean that it ever has been the policy 
of the Catholic Church to keep her subjects in ig- 
norance, this being most favorable to the propaga- 
gation and maintenance of her fallacies. Speak- 
ing of Papineau, Mr. Chiniquy says: ''But the 
echoes of Canada are still repeating the thundering 
words with which Papineau denounced the priests 
as the most deadly enemies of the education and 
liberty of Canada." He was one of the first men 
of Canada to see that there was no progress, no 
liberty possible for our beloved country so long as 
the priests would have the education of the people 
in their hands. Papineau was educated in part under 
the priests, and he knew well how they stultified 
the intellect; but despite this he rose to eminence 
and became the enemy of this system of ignorance. 
I repeat, it is the policy of the Catholic Church to 
keep her subjects ignorant of literature, science, and 



EOMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 49 



the Bible. I shall not stop to quote authors or 
statistics to prove the statement. I take it that the 
proposition goes for the saying, and needs no proof, 
being axiomatic. This being true, how is it that the 
Catholics have adopted a system of education in the 
United States that looks to the education of the 
masses? The answer is significant. Rome is always 
on the ground and wide-awake. If she cannot stop 
the engine, she will board the train. The people of 
this country believe in the education of the masses, 
and steps have been taken by the national and State 
governments to provide free education, so that all 
the people may receive a liberal education. In ad- 
dition to this, we have private and denominational 
schools. If Home should ox)pose education here as 
she does in Catholic countries, she would be left 
behind in the race. But to hold her own — nay, to 
seize the helm and control this country — she suits 
her policy to the condition of things; so she has es- 
tablished her schools from the primary up to the 
university. In this country, as soon as a church is 
built and a congregation is organized that gives 
them sufficient strength, a convent is erected where 
educational advantages are offered at cheap rates. 
They have given out the impression that these schools 
afford superior advantage at less cost. We are told 
that "there is less exposure of girls to immoral 
taint; that they are more secure from temptation and 
evil influences within the walls of a convent than 
even in our denominational schools; that the Sisters 
are so kind, even siveet, to the girls; and then the 
cost is less." This is the speech that some Protest- 
ants make upon this subject. All this may appear 
4 



50 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 



feasible, and much to the taste of tlie unmformed; 
but no well-posted Protestant can be deceived by 
such a pretense, no such guile can win the patronage 
of any truly informed man. He well knows the true 
intent. 

2. It is a fact that Rome proposes to enslave the in- 
tellect, to handicap manhood, rather than develop the 
intellect and bring out the latent resources of the 
mind. She aims to destroy the independent action 
of the will, intellect, and conscience. Hence the ed- 
ucation she imparts rests upon a false foundation 
and is necessarily defective. The education that 
is received in a convent is manifestly superficial. 
It amounts to but little. They do not want to edu- 
cate the mind; they aim not to do so. Now and then 
some one of Rome's pupils has risen above the tide 
and confronted the current of an ignominious stagna- 
tion of death, only to be beaten back by the prowess 
of an inexorable tyrant. Such was the case w^ith 
Copernicus, Galileo, Bossuet, Pascal, and others. 
The first lesson is a lesson of obedience to superiors. 
The Church must interpret and think through her 
officers for her subjects. This obedience is not the 
ordinary obedience of an inferior to a superior, but 
the absolute surrender of the entire intellect to the 
dictation of the Catholic Church. Protestants tell 
us that they have a promise that their children shall 
not be tampered with in these schools; that their 
instructors are to be reticent about their faith 
and practice. Indeed! But what does the promise 
amount to, coming from those who are connected 
with such a system as this? Are not these same 
teachers under a solemn vow to advance Catholicism 



EOMANISM VERSUS rROTESTANTISM. 51 



by every possible means — by perfidy, iiitriguery, de- 
ception, falsehood, and the Inquisition, if need be and 
the opportunity of doing so is given? Then what 
does that promise amount to? Listen to these state- 
ments of a man on the inside, who afterv/ard camo 
out on the outside. I mean Mr. Chiniquy. On 
pages 86, 87 of " Fifty Tears in the Catholic Church " 
he says: "Our first parents were not more cruelly 
deceived by the seductive words of the serpents than 
the Protestants are this day by the deceitful promises 
of the priests and nuns of Bome." The following is 
a part of a conversation between himself and the 
Bev. Mr. Leprohon, the superior of one of their insti- 
tutions of learning in Canada, concerning a young 
man who had matriculated in the institution. Mr. 
Leprohon said to Mr. Chioiquy: "Tou know some 
English, and this young man knows French enough 
to enable you to understand each other. Try to be- 
come his friend and bring him over to our holy re- 
ligion. His father is a most influential man in the 
United States, and this his only son is the heir of an 
immense fortune. Great results for the future of the 
Church in the neighboring republic might follow his 



conversion." 



Mr. Chiniquy replied: "Have you forgotten the 
promise you made to his father, never to say or do 
anything to shake or take away the religion of that 
young man?" 

Mr. Leprohon smiled at the simplicity of Mr. 
Chiniquy, and said: " When you have studied the- 
ology, you will know that Protestantism is no religion, 
but that it is the negation of religion. Protesting 
cannot be the basis of any doctrine. Thus, when I 



52 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 



promised Judge Pike that the religious convictions 
of his son should be respected, and that I would not 
do anything to change his faith, I did promise the 
easiest thing in the world, since I promised not to 
meddle with a thing which has no existence." 

Take another instance of their perfidy {ibid,, p. 785). 
This occurred in 1858, just before Mr. Chiniquy re- 
nounced Catholicism. 

The Catholics have a monastery, college, and uni- 
versity at St. Joseph, Ind., over which M. Saurin, 
Grand Yicar, presided, assisted by the Kev. M. 
Granger. Mr. Chiniquy says: "Though he," mean- 
ing Grand Vicar Saurin, '^promised to the numerous 
Protestant parents who intrusted their boys and girls 
to his care for their education never to interfere with 
their religion, he was, nevertheless, incessantly prose- 
lyting them. Several of his Protestant pupils were 
received into the Church of Rome, and renounced 
the religion of their fathers, in my presence, on the 
eve of Easter of that year." 

3. Is not this enough? No, let us take one 7nore les- 
son in the occult Icthijrintlis of this monstrous system 
before ice leave this subject. It is from one of their 
standard authors — an expounder of moral princi- 
ples and ethics, as viewed from the Roman Catholic 
standpoint. Liguori, in his treatise on oaths, Ques- 
tion 4, asks if it is allowable to use ambiguity, or 
equivocal words, to deceive the judge when under 
oath, and No. 151 he answers: "It is certain, and the 
opinion of all theologians, that for good reasons one 
may be permitted to use equivocations and maintain 
them by oath; and by good reason we mean all that 
can do any good to tlie body or soul." This standard 



BOMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 53 



of moral ethics is no higher than that of heathen 
philosophers, and is plainly at variance with that 
high standard of morality set forth in the Word of 
God. We are not to do evil that good may come of 
it. Speaking to this question, the apostle says: "And 
not ratlier (as we be slanderously reported and as 
some affirm that we' say), let us do evil that good 
may come, whose damnation is just." The apostle 
regarded this as a great evil, but Eome tells us, 
through her theologians, that it is all right to swear 
falsely if by so doing the interest of the Church of 
Eome can be advanced. "With such a theory of 
ethics, and such teachings in theology, who would 
d.are to trust the sacred interests of their children to 
these vultures of virtue? These priests and Sisters 
often find it to their purpose to use guile. They are 
artful, adroit, and cunning. What they cannot ac- 
complish by overtures they accomplish by subllet}^. 
They first seek by any possible means to gain the 
respect and confidence of tiieir unsuspecting stu- 
dents. Then they advance stealthily, step by step; 
from time to time they instill into the minds of their 
tractable victims their nefarious principles and per- 
nicious traditions. Finally all prejudice has sab- 
sided in the mind of the duped boy or girl, and then 
follows admiration of the devotion displayed by these 
pretentious examplars of piety, and a fancy for the 
splendid ceremonies performed. This renders direct 
approach to the coveted prize easy, and thus the 
work is accomplished — the boy or girl becomes a 
Catholic. In this way Rome carries on her prosely- 
ting work right here in our midst If a fly venture 
upon the web of a spider, of course it will become 



54 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 



entangled therein, and will be captured by tlie spider. 
Just so, if you put your child in this Catholic web, 
you may expect him to be captured by the Catholics 
and become one of them. But suppose that some of 
the girls and boys sent to these schools are not taken 
in the hidden meshes. If nothing more, they become 
partial to the Eoman Church. They think upon her ^ 
with pleasure, and stand ready to defend her against 
any attacks. They learn to admire what appears to 
them to be devotion and charity to mankind. 

4. In this ivay Borne is making mmiij proselytes 
among Protestants. ' I sx)eak advisedly upon this ques- 
tion. I know of several girls who have attended 
Catholic convents in the bounds of my district. In 
some instances they have become Catholics, and in 
ether instances they have learned to love the Catho- 
lics and are ready to defend them when anything is 
said against them. If they get a girl into one of 
their schools, who shows herself to be fully estab- 
lished in the Protestant faith, so that they have no 
hoj)e of proselyting her, they prefer to get rid of her. 
In one instance in this district (the WacD District) 
a girl was matriculated who esteemed but lightly 
their superstitious worship, and to get rid of her 
they violated the terms of the contract that her fa- 
ther had made with them for board and tuition. 
But, after all, Protestants wdll continue to patronize 
Itoman institutions because, forsooth, they tell us 
that they are so cheap and the management is so 
good. Cheap? Alas! they are dear at any price; for 
they even pervert history, having false histories of 
their own, in order to impress their duped pupils in 
favor of themselves and airainst Protestants. 



ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 55 



5. They never educate thoroughly^ except it he to ac- 
complish an end. Confidiiig American mothers who 
send their girls to these convents for good train- 
ing are either ignorant of the fact, or else ignore 
the fact, that their instructresses are in many if 
not most instances foreigners who are in fact igno- 
rant for the most part, and really care but little for 
anything except fidelity to Komanism. In the name 
of common sense, how can they be competent ex- 
amplars of etiquette and sobriety when their man- 
ner of life differs so materially from other women? 
How can they be the patrons of the Christianity of 
Protestants while they hold but little in common 
with Protestants? And yet we are told, and that 
too by Protestants, that these schools are cheap and 
their education superior! Go and say this to the 
Burmas of India, or the negroes of darkest Africa, 
but not to intelligent Americans. "Canada's chil- 
dred," says Mr. Ohiniquy, "will continue to flee from 
the country of their birth so long as the priest of 
Home holds the influence which is blasting every- 
thing that falls within his grasp on this continent 
as well as in Europe; and the United States will 
soon see their most sacred institutions fall one after 
another if Americans continue to send their sons and 
daughters to the Jesuit colleges and nunneries." I 
hold that it is a compromise of principle on the jiart 
of Protestants who send their children to these 
schools. It jeopardizes the present and eternal in- 
terests of the young. It sows the pernicious seed of 
sin that brings forth the harvest of death. It fosters 
here in our midst the greatest enemy to our liberties 
and our religion. Brought down to a final- analysis, 



56 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 



to patronize these schools is perfidy to Protestant 
faith and high treason to this government. It is bet- 
ter, infinitely better, that your son or daughter grow up 
without any education. Send them to the cornfields, 
to the cotton patch, to the spinning wheel, and to the 
washpot rather than to these institutions of moral 
and spiritual death! Yea, rather send them to Christ- 
less schools, where religion is not mentioned at all! 
Cheap? Alas! would you sell your daughter to be a 
slave? Yea, worse than a slave should she become 
the dupe of a corrupt priestcraft! Friend, I beg you 
in the name of Christ our Saviour, stop and think 
for the sake of liberty, for the sake of virtue, for the 
sake of yoar country — yea, for the sake of your own 
child — stop and consider what you are doing! Hear 
Mr. Chiniquy again: "While, as a priest, I rejoiced 
at the numerous conquests of my Church over her 
enemies, in all our colleges and nunneries, I objected 
to the breach of promise always connected with those 
conversions. I, however, then thought, as I think 
to-day, that a Protestant who takes his children 
to a Koman Catholic priest or a nun for their educa- 
tion had no religion." (" Fifty Years in the Catholic 
Church," p. 785.) 



CHAPTEE V. 

This Government in Danger — Catholic Strategy — Perverts His- 
tory — Persecutions. 

1. Permit me to say that the danger to this govern- 
menty to the religious and civil liberty of this republic, 
is not imaginary. The Catholics have ah^eady taken, 
definitely and obstinately, a stand against our public 
school system. They talk very composedly of their 
share of the public school fund. This is quite signifi- 
cant. What right have they to talk of their share of 
the public school fund ? When and where did they get 
a share by legal process? It is their purpose to sup- 
plant our public schools with their parochial schools, 
and by so doing turn the tide of youth into Catholic 
channels. It is still fresh in the minds of the people 
of this country that, but yesterday, they had well- 
nigh accomplished their purpose in Boston. The 
people barely awoke from their sweet recumbrance 
in time to arrest this Hydra of the ages. They stood 
upon the margin of an awful vortex that w^as just 
ready to ingulf their educational interests. Rome 
has through the Jesuits controlled a large share of 
the public school fund appropriated to the Indian 
Territory to foster and build up her own institutions. 
The following from a communication in the Nashville 
Advocate of recent date, from Kev. J. S. Smith, wall 
throw much light upon this question. His figures 
are taken from the "Report of Indian Affairs of 
1892," w^hich shows the appropriations from 1886 

(57) 



58 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 



to 1893. "The appropriations for 1886 are as fol- 
lows: Catholics, $118,342; Presbyterians, $32,995; 
Congregationalists, $16,121; Friend (Quakers), $1,- 
960. From year to year the Catholics get an in- 
crease.' In 1889 the Methodists (Northern) get a 
small sum, $2,725, and an increase of $15,000 is 
divided among the other seven denominations as 
'hush money,' while the Catholics get $347,672, an 
increase of $125,000. There is a small increase from 
this time on, the Catliolics getting the most of it. 
The total donations for the eight years are as follows: 
Catholics; $2,366,416; Presbyterians, $315,080; Con- 
gregationalists, $208,819; Episcopalians, $107,146 ; 
Friends, $150,705; Mennonites, $25,840; Unitarians, 
$33,750; Lutherans, $53,460; Methodists (Northern), 
$33,245. The whole amount given to all, except 
Catholics, $927,847; or the Catholics received, above 
all others combined, $1,438,569. This manifest fa- 
voritism has at length alarmed the other denomina- 
tions, and the Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Congre- 
gationalists, and Methodists have resolved to receive 
no more, and demand that donations to the Catholics 
shall cease also. The Commissioner has had much 
trouble wdth the Catholics, incited to disobedience by 
the priests, and was forced to ask for troops to en- 
force the orders of his department. Of Mr. Morgan, 
the commissioner, a gentleman and Jaithful officer, 
one of these priests wnites: 'Consequently I do not 
see how consistent Catholics can so stultify them- 
selves as to cast their votes to continue Morgan's 
brutal, bigoted rule for four years more. If the 
rascals are not ignominiously turned out this fall, 
there will not be left an Indian child in a Catholic 



ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 59 



school four years hence.' " A consummation devoutly 
to be wished. Brother Smith continues: " Thus does 
this apostate Church hiilly the political parties into 
granting whatever they demand. [Italics mine.] To 
manage this matter there is a Catholic Indian Bureau 
at Washington City that dictates the legislation of 
Congress and the appropriations for Indian schools. 
Of this policy Mr. Morgan says : ' When I entered 
upon my duties in the office I found this policy in 
active operation. From small beginnings it had in a 
short space of time grown to large proportions, and 
was rapidly increasing. The policy seemed to me to 
be an unwise one, partly because it was using public 
funds for sectarian purposes, which is certainly con- 
trary to the spirit of the Constitution.' Accordingly 
the Commissioner refused' to enter into further con- 
tracts with the Churches except to support the 
schools already in operation. For this reason a great 
war was raised against him by the Catholics, who de- 
manded his resignation. Why was this? Under the 
previous administration the increase to the Catholics 
had been from $25,000 to $125,000 a year, v/hile under 
the last administration it had been increased but 
$45,000 in three years, and finally decreased $25,000 
the last year." All ye liberty-loving, take notice! " In 
this fight our Senator from Missouri took a hand, de- 
claring that the Jesuits had done more to civilize and 
Christianize the Indians than all the other Churches 
put together, and that the Indian children connected 
with these Catholic schools were far more profitably 
taught than in any other schools." Mr. Smith then 
l)roceeds to say that he has information from reliable 
sources that the opposite of these statements is true. 



60 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 



He furthermore says: "Catholic education out West 
is just like Catholic education in Mexico, where the 
poor, ignorant people are simply taught to be Eoman 
Catholics and obey the priests, and are loyal to the 
Church first and to the government second. Beyond 
all question the Southern Methodist Church, with- 
out governmental aid, has done more to elevate and 
educate the Indians than all the Jesuits with their 
nearly two and a half millions of the people's money." 
The importance of the facias contained in the above jus- 
tifies the length of the quotation. In this connection 
I will subjoin the following from my book on " The 
Sabbath and Eeligious and Civil Liberty," page 109: 
^' The New York Freeman, the leading Eoman Catho- 
lic organ of this country, in its issue of March 29, 
1890, advocates the extermination of Protestantism 
as soon as Eome has the power in America. The 
occasion of this furor was the appointment of Dr. 
Dorchester and General Morgan as commissioners. 
The CatJwlic Neivs of New York, March 5, says: 
' Every Senator who voted for the confirmation must 
be watched. His future career in his State must 
not be advanced by Catholic votes which helped 
him to reach the position he so shamefully abused. 
Every one is now a marked man.'" 

2. From all this it is plainly to he seen that Borne 
is getting fast hold upon the money , patronage, and 
political support of this government. The chains are 
fast being forged to bind us hand and foot. At 
this particular crisis, when everything is in a state of 
ferment, just now while confidence is shaken, polit- 
ical parties multiplying, partisanisni on the ram[)ago, 
anarchism almost defiant; while crimes are .unpun- 



BOMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 61 

ished, measurably through bribery, or, what is much 
the same, a legal (nay, an illegal) resort to the merest 
technicalities o£ law to pervert the ends of justice; 
and meanwhile mob violence and brute force are fast 
taking the place of legal punishment, the Catholics 
are improving the opportunity to rivet their chains 
upon us. Rome first objected to our public schools 
because the Bible was read in them; and then, when 
the Bible was eliminated, she criticised them because 
they are atheistical. She has already prohibited 
Catholics in parts of the United States patronizing 
the public schools under pain of excommunication. 
The following evidence will suffice: "The Arch- 
bishops of Quebec say: * Our Fifth Council forbid 
Catholic parents to patronize Protestant godless 
schools; it is commanded to refuse absolution to 
parents who, being warned, persist in exposing their 
children to this great danger.' " ( '^Danger Signals," p. 
256. ) Eome has already pronounced the sentence of 
excommunication against her members who persist in 
patronizing public schools — such she denominates 
"Protestant godless schools." Moreover, Mr. Capel, 
a prelate belonging to the household of the pope, has 
boldly asserted that the time is not far distant when 
Eoman Catholics, at the order of the pope, will re- 
fuse to pay their school tax, and will send bullets to 
the breasts of the collectors rather than pay it. He 
3ays: "The order can come any day from Eome. It 
w^ill come as quickly as the click of a trigger, and it 
will be obeyed, of course, as coming from God Al- 
mighty himself." Notwithstanding all this defiant 
talk, these daring innuendoes, the Protestant peo- 
ple are lying supinely — nay, worse than that, they are 



62 ROMANISM YERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 



fostering the monster that is to sting them to death. 
Tliis we have seen is being done by the general gov- 
ernment, and it is also being done by individuals 
Avho patronize their schools under the vain delusion 
that they are saving money. Do you remember 
^sop's fable of the snake the villager found on a 
frosty morning in the depth of winter in a semi- 
frozen state? In commiseration he took it into his 
own house and placed it before the fire. As soon as 
the reptile revived it spj-ang upon the wife and chil- 
dren of its benefactor and bit them; whereupon the 
man killed it with a vengeance. But alas! his wife 
and children were bitten. Just so the people of this 
country are fostering a Hydra that is stinging their 
wives and children to death, and whose mission is to 
destroy all that oppose her in working out the prob- 
lem of death of all that is good to which she is called 
by his Satanic majesty. 

5. Not the least opportunity is overlooked or neglected 
hij the Catholics to accomplish their purpose. They de- 
scend to the minor details of plotting and schem- 
ing that they may subvert all things to their own 
advantage. The idea of justice never for once en- 
ters into their purpose. They are too successful 
in getting Protestant children into their schools, 
where they are inoculated with Catholic ideas and 
principles. They stop not at this, but they have 
issued their own histories, which they use in their 
schools. These histories falsify the facts of history. 
They know that true history reflects upon them as 
an organization — yea, that the bloody deeds com- 
mitted by the agencies of their Church and under its 
sanction and diction must ever serve as a bar to their 



ROMANISM VERSUS RROTESTANTISM. 63 



future progress in this republic. This fact has 
prompted thera to resort to the disreputable expedi- 
ency of misrepresenting history. Yea, rather they 
have perpetrated downright falsehoods. The fol- 
lowing quotations from the " School Plot Unmasked " 
(pp. 63-72) will fully vindicate the above statements: 

a ppQf^ Townsend, in his reply to Judge Joseph D. 
Fallon, June 1, 1890, says: 'Or the zeal of the 
judge might lead him to offer for selection to the 
School Committee an exceedingly popular Eoman 
Catholic book, Bishop Gilmore's "Bible History," 
which has the unqualitied commendation of the pope, 
of Cardinal Manning, and of leading American papal 
Church dignitaries. In it are found these VN'ords: 
"Catholicity has appealed to reason; Protestantism, 
like Mohammedanism, to force and violence. In 
England and Scotland Protestantism was forced 
upon the people by fines, imprisonment, and death; 
in Germany and Prussia, Sweden and Denmark and 
Norway, the same. In America the Puritans acted 
in like manner." 

" ' Or the judge might offer for our consideration a 
a book written by Priest Baddeley, published in 
Boston, which Catholic children are obliged to com- 
mit to memory. Speaking of Martin Luther this 
book says: "What! can a man who was mad with 
lust, who lived in adultery, and caused others to do 
the same, who wrote most horrid blasphemy and cor- 
rupted the Bible, who was a notorious drunkard and 
companion of devils, who was as proud as Satan him- 
self, a preacher of sedition and murder — what! can 
this wretch be compared with Paul?" 

" 'After paving the way by various statements, the 



64 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 



book before us asks the following questions: "Must 
not, then, the Protestant Church, instead of leading- 
men to heaven, infallibly lead them to hell? An- 
swer: As none of the inhabitants of Jericho could 
escape the fire or sword but such as were within the 
house of Eahab, for whose protection a covenant was 
made, so none shall ever escape the eternal wrath of 
God who belong not to the [Roman Catholic] 
Church of God." 

" 'After depicting the sins of Protestants, the ques- 
tion is asked, " Can we ffnd no better kind of holiness 
among Catholics? Answ^er: 'Yes; the holiness of 
the Catholic religion is indeed very different from 
that of other religions, because the religions framed 
by men teach doctrines invented by Luther, Calvin, 
"Wesley, Whitefield, and other deluded and wicked 
men, whereas the Catholic Church teaches only that 
doctrine which Christ taught his apostles." 

" ' Such are the compliments paid by Eoman Catho- 
lic writers to the Protestant reformers of the w-orld, 
and such is the fairness of Koman Catholic w^riters 
in dealing with historic matters. 

" 'A book bearing the title, " Plain Talk about Prot- 
estantism of To-day," is another treatise that might 
be submitted by Judge Fallon to our Boston School 
Committee. It contains these statements: "Martin 
Luther died forlorn of God, blaspheming to the very 
end. His last word was an attestation of impatience. 
His eldest son, who had doubts both about the 
Reformation and the Reform, asked him for the last 
time whether he persevered in the doctrine he 
preached. ' Yes,' replied a gurgling sound from the 
old sinner's throat, and Luther was before his God! 



ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 65 



. . . Calvin died of scariet fever, devoured by 
vermin, and eaten by an unclean, abscess. The stench 
thereof drove away every person. In great misery 
he gave up his rascally ghost, despairing of salva- 
tion, evoking the deviJs from the abyss, and uttering 
oaths most horrible and blasphemies most fright- 
ful." Of Fox's "Book of Martyrs" this same trea- 
tise says: ''These saints were nothing but a set 
of* deluded, rebellious, impious, and blasphemous 
wretches." (Comp. "Catechism of Perseverance," p. 
327, etc.)'" 

As the reader may not have at hand the last words 
of Luther, I will subjoin them, that he may compare 
them with the perversion of facts as quoted above. 
He died February 18, 1545, aged sixty-two. " ' O my 
heavenly Father, my eternal and everlasting God; 
thou that revealest to me thy Son, our Lord Jesus 
Christ: I have preached him, and I have confessed 
him; I love him, and I worship him as my dearest 
Saviour and Redeemer — him whom the wicked per- 
secute, accuse, and blaspheme.' Eejpeating these 
words of the Psalmist: 'Into thy hands I commit 
my spirit,' he sweetly fell asleep in the arms of 
Jesus. 

Luther, illustrious name! is now no more; 
Let the true Church with streaming eyes deplore. 
A teaclier firm in faith — nay, rather say, 
A father from his children snatched away. 
Luther is gone, the pilot of our course ; 
O let the tearful muse his name rehearse, 
Let all the pious join with me to mourn, 
Orphans should thus bedev/ a father's urn. 

("The Last Witnesses," p. 12.) 

Before we dismiss this subject let us take a glance 
5 



66 KOMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM, 



at Gazeau's "Modern History," wliich contains au- 
dacious misrepresentations of facts. 

"Dr. Harcourt, in his 'Conspiracy,' gives the fol- 
lowing as quotations from Gazeau: 'Ferdinand and 
Isabella, honored by the Holy See with the title of 
" Catholic sovereigns," resolved to prove themselves 
worthy of it by maintaining among their subjects the 
faith in all its purity. To this end they revived the 
ancient tribunal of the Inquisition. . . . Its 
chief aim was to detect every crime and delinquency 
in religious matters, especially among the converted 
Jews and Moors, many of whom' simply professed 
conversion, and were often secretly engaged in trea- 
sonable practices. If the accused was found guilty, 
and manifested some repentance, he was sentenced 
to make a public reparation, or act of faith, auto- 
da-fe, holding a lighted taper in his hand. If he per- 
sisted in his error, he was handed over to the secular 
arm, and lay judges pronounced sentence and ap- 
plied the laws of the State. The Spanish Inquisi- 
tion, like all human institutions, was not always 
restricted within just limits, and the head of the 
Church more than once interposed his authority; 
but if, later, other sovereigns made of this tribunal a 
political instrument, Ferdinand should not be cen- 
sured for confiding to it the mission of prosecuting 
infidels, who, by their sacrilegious profanations, were 
subjects of scandal to Catholics.' " (Page 42. ) 

"Of Luther we are told: 'Wicked men are always 
disposed to rebel against authority. The sale of in- 
dulgences and the word "reform " were simply made 
the pretext by the able but unprincipled Luther for 
the outburst of the storm that was to devastate Eu- 



ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 67 



rope and break up the spiritual unity of Christen- 
dom.' " (Pages 62, 63.) 

"Concerning the massacre of St. Bartholomew's 
Day, Gazeau says: 'As to the solemn Te Deum sung 
at Rome by order of Pope Gregory XIII., it was 
done under the impression that the massacre was be- 
gun on the part of the Calvinists, that the king's 
party acted in self-defense, and that the affair grew 
out of an unsuccessful conspiracy against the French 
government and the Catholic Church. This Te 
Deum belonged to the same category as the one sung 
shortly before for the victory gained at Lepanto over 
the Turks.' " (Pages 106, 107. ) 

''On the foregoing statements in reference to the 
Inquisition Dr. Harcourt comments: 'Now what are 
the facts of history concerning this Romish mode of 
discipline, the Inquisition? Loyola, so his ow^n dis- 
ciples boast, founded the Roman Inquisition, of 
which Leo XIII. is the living head. Under the rule 
of his predecessor, Pius V., in the sixteenth century, 
Rome rang with the cries of perishing martyrs, or 
caught their hymns of joy; and Loyola, had he lived, 
would have heard with exultation the groans and dy- 
ing plaints of the victims of the fearful institution 
he had founded. It was Rome that taught its lesson 
of cruelty; while England, Germany, and the North 
became comparatively humane, Spain, Italy, and the 
South w^ere filled with brigands, assassins, and in- 
quisitors. Pius V. declared that an obstinate heretic 
w^as worse than the most hardened criminal; that not 
one should be spared, and they should be swept from 
the face of the earth; and not a day passed from 
Rome but some one was hanged and quartered for 



68 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 

his Lutheran faith. Pius V. sanctioned and urged 
the assassination of Queen Elizabeth, and the assassins 
of the age turned naturally for comfort and guidance 
to Eome. And why should fchey not? for she taught 
them that in executing her will they were doing the 
will of the most high God. A universal horror filled 
the Northern capitals at the deeds that were done in 
Southern lands. The massacre of St. Bartholomew 
sprang naturally from the teachings and examples of 
Pius Y. and Loyola. Pius prompted and his suc- 
cessors applauded tlie fearful scene, which has left 
its lasting trace upon the history of that unhappy 
land. Gregory XIII. lent his infallible sanction to 
the dreadful deed, and all Rome rang ,with joy over a 
crime which humanity trembles to recall. The pope 
indeed only complained that not half enough Protes- 
tants had been massacred. The city of Rome was 
illuminated in honor of the deed, and a jubilee was 
proclaimed ! ' A medal in commemoration of the 
awful horror was struck by the pope." 

" The Inquisition lasted from the thirteenth to the 
nineteenth century; indeed, it still exists where Rome 
has the power ! Lorente, one of the last saretims of the 
Inquisition, gives a list of those who in Spain suffered 
death and other punishments from 1452 to 1811. He 
tells us that 31,788 were burned, 174,111 died in pris- 
on, and 287,522 suffered other punisliments. In 1209 
Pope Innocent III. proclaimed a crusade against the 
Albigenses, which lasted for eighteen years. The 
terrible war of the Hussites lasted for over fifteen 
years; the persecution of the Huguenots from 1472 
to 1598. John Huss was burned in Constance in 
1415. Jerome of Prague met the same fate in 1616, 



EOMANISM VEBSUS PROTESTANTISM. 69 



and Savanarola was burned in 1598. Michael Ser- 
vetus was burned in Geneva at the instigation of 
John Calvin because he denied the doctrine of the 
Trinity. At the massacre of St. Bartholomew, in 
1572, about 30,000 Protestants were killed in Paris 
alone, and more than 100,000 in France!" 

" In the light of the foregoing and many more 
items concerning the multilation of historic facts by 
the * Mother of Harlots,' we may well inquire: Do 
we want Borne to teach the children history? Rome 
is coloring the dictionaries and encyclopedias, so 
that a searcher after truth needs to be constantly 
on his guard against deception. Note this from the 
Citizen: 'The Freemmi's Jomital (Bomanist) says: 
" The time was when complaint was common that in- 
justice was done to the Catholics in Webster's Dic- 
tionary. There is no room for such a thing in the 
new 'Webster's International Dictionary,' issued by 
G. & C. Merriam & Co., Springfield, Mass., because 
Vicar General Callaghan, of the diocese of Little 
Eock, has revised and edited everything appertain- 
ing to the Church." Well, we have no choice, as the 
same charge is brought against Worcester's.' " 

"The 'mother of harlots' is changing the names 
of rivers and mountains, giving them names to suit 
her fancy.' " 

These quotations are sufficient to show that Catho- 
lics have no regard for truth when it stands in their 
way, and that they are pursuing the old way which 
has ever marked the history of the past. What 
Protestant would have his child drink at such a pol- 
luted fountain of knowledge? The object of educa- 
tion is to learn facts and true principles. Infinitely 



70 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 



better is it that the mind be wholly uncultured, than 
that false conceits, principles, and ideas of past 
events be imbibed. The more one thinks upon this 
subject, the greater becomes the feeling of just in- 
dignation. Suppose that Protestants should be 
guilty of such perfidy? The Catholics would make 
the welkin ring until the four corners of the earth 
would reecho with such aspiration as to wake up the 
secular press. As it is, but little is said about it and 
less is done. So to-day many a silly Protestant par- 
ent is having his children take on this false teaching 
to the detriment of the child mentally as well as 
morally. 



CHAPTEE VL 

Dangers Tliat Threaten This Repubhc Continued — Threats — 
Control Cities — Associated Press — Mihtary Organizations — 
Arming — American People Not Credulous — Satolli, Bishop 
Odin — Catholic Schools and Colleges — Hilderbrand. 

1. " CoMiMG events cast their shadows heforeJ^^ In- 
dications are such that a feeling has been created through- 
out the country that the Catholics at no distant day icill 
cause the Protestants of this country 710 little trouble. 
It really appears that they are rapidly consum- 
mating their plans for a strike against the liberties, 
if not the lives, of all who oppose them. I am not 
a pessimist, nor am I a sensationalist, but for 
twenty years I have been watching the trend of 
things with special reference to the Catholics, and 
have seen, as I believed, a cloud upon the horizon, 
larger than a man's hand, gathering from the four 
winds, from time to time. But yesterday the press 
began to call attention to this portentous cloud, 
which, with murky folds, is rapidly obscuring the 
political j&rmament. I will give the reader an extract 
from what purports to be an encyclical letter from 
the pope. Its genuineness is questioned by some. 
Of course I have no way of determining whether it 
is genuine or not. It, however, bears upon its face 
the marks of a pontifical document. If it is authen- 
tic, of course it was not intended by the Catholics to 
fall into the hands of Protestants. To be sure the 
Catholics disclaim its authenticity. It cannot be de- 
nied that the Catholics set up the claim set forth in 

(71) 



72 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM, 



the letter. A priest at West, in the bounds of my 
district, recently stated publicly that this country 
was discovered by a Catholic, and so by right of dis- 
covery belonged to the Catholics. This priest of- 
ficiates for a colony of Bohemians who are impatient 
of the enforcement of law.. The following extract I 
take from a correspondent to the New York Witness 
of July 19, 1892: "Last October, at a lecture in a 
Catholic church, I heard a Paulist father say that it 
was a Catholic who discovered America; that it is 
the Roman Catholics who sustain America; that it 
was the Roman Catholic Church that elevated women 
to the high position they now occupy — through the 
blessed Virgin Mary; . . . that in a short time 
she would rule the country that rightfully belonged 
to her. Then, and not until then, would it be Hlie 
land of the free and the home of the brave.'" All 
this sounds much like the language that I shall now 
quote. The paper bears date December 26, 1891, 
written from Rome, and addressed to the Catholics 
throughout the world, but having direct reference to 
America: "For the temporal reign of the future 
popes, in the land discovered by Christopher Colum- 
bus, known as the United States of America. This 
pontiff alone hath been constituted head over all na- 
tions and kingdoms and invested with power to de- 
stroy, to separate, to scatter, and subvert." Then is 
alleged the following: "This republic, having 
seized upon the lands discovered by Christopher 
Columbus, a Roman Catholic, and under authority 
and jurisdiction of the supreme head of the Church, 
. . . the United States is filled with obscure here- 
tics. The Catholics have been oppressed, . . . the 



ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 73 



United States has been filled with books containing 
the most flagrant heresies, of which the Protestant 
version of the Bible is chief. And not content with 
adopting its false and impious doctrines, proselyting 
has been resorted to to turn the Catholics from the 
true Church. . . . Naturalization oaths have been 
demanded to subscribe to the United States Consti- 
tution, with nefarious laws and nefarious teachings, 
to renounce the true authority of the Roman pontiff; 
to acknowledge him to be head of both Church and 
State, whereby those who have persevered in the 
faith have been compelled to suffer spiritual afflic- 
tions. . . . AVith deep sorrow we are now con- 
strained to have recourse to the arm of justice, and 
obliged to action against a nation that has rejected 
the pope as head of all Church and State govern- 
ments. In virtue, therefore, . . . we do . . . 
declare that all heretics and encouragers of heresy, 
together with adherents, have incurred the sentence 
of excommunication, and they are hereby cut off 
from the body of Jesus Christ. Moreover, we pro- 
claim the people of the United States of America to 
have forfeited all right to rule said republic. . . . 
We likewise declare that all subjects to every rank 
and condition in the United States in any way what- 
ever may be absolved from all duty, fidelity, or obe- 
dience on or about the 5th day of September, 1893, 
when the Eoman Catholic Congress shall convene at 
Chicago, 111. ... It will be the duty of the faith- 
ful to exterminate all heretics found within the juris- 
diction of the United States of America." {Baptist 
Herald, February 2, 1893, copied from the Protestant 
American, ) If this be true, whatever it may imply, 



74 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 



though it be impossible for his highness to execute 
the full text of this edict, none would deny that it is 
the ominous index that points to the future with un- 
erring precision. We have startling facts before us, 
the truth of which admits of no doubt. Monsignor 
Satolli, the pope's legate, has recently come to 
America, and has settled at Washington City, under 
the shadow of the capitol of this country. He has 
planned for a magnificent residence. He is near at 
hand, to be in touch with the lawmakers of this 
country, and to lend hi§ influence in all matters that 
look to the enlargement and development of Catholic 
schemes. 

2, Consider also that the Catholics have virtually con- 
trol of New York, Baltimore, Chicago, St. Paul, New 
Orleans, Mobile, Savannah, Cincinnati, Albany, Troy, 
Milivaiikee, St. Louis, and San Francisco, And, more- 
over, that they are being yearly augmented by for- 
eign immigration by the multiplied thousands; that 
there is a Jesuit connected with the editorial staff 
of nearly all the leading journals of this repub- 
lic; and not the least, that they now have control 
of the Associated Press. Prof. L. T. Townsend, D.D., 
Professor of Homiletics and Pastoral Theology in 
Boston University, and Professor of Christian 
Science, Life, and Literature in the Chautauqua 
School of Theology, not long since delivered a vigor- 
ous address before the Boston Methodist ministers' 
meeting on Jesuitical influences on the secular press. 
I shall make a few quotations from this timely ad- 
vertisement of the tricks of the Catholics. These 
quotations are taken from the Advance: ** What Prof. 
Townsend specially charges against the Boston dai- 



ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 75 



lies he also shows to be true of other large papers of 
the country, and of the Associated Press, which sup- 
plies them with news; that there is not one but has one 
or more Roman Catholics in its editorial rooms, and 
that Protestant reporters on these papers know that if 
they present facts for publication detrimental to the 
papal Church, no matter how true or of how much 
public interest, these facts would never see the light." 
" Prof. Townsend charges that the aim and policy of 
the papal Church are to secure control of all the 
agencies that can most effectually aid the Church in 
securing its own aggrandizement and in overthrow- 
ing all religious, educational, and civil institutions 
that cannot be made to secure its own interests. To 
this end it has insinuated itself into the departments 
of the government, so much so that the anti-Catholic 
publications have been interfered with in the mails, 
and papal confessional boxes are being built on some 
of our men-of-war. The school, the army, the navy, 
the treasury, and the secular press are being reached 
after by them. In the latter department, their influ- 
ence is great beyond what many know. Eoman 
Catholics control the typesetters' union to such an 
extent that Prof. Townsend declares that the arch- 
bishop of the Boston diocese could, if he wished, 
paralyze in a day the mechanical work that is done 
for the journals of that city. They control the news 
companies so that they will not put on sale publica- 
tions that are detrimental to the Catholic interest, 
and lastly they dominate the news ag'encies to such 
an extent that no important item reflecting on the 
Roman Church is allowed to appear. ^For years,' 
said the speaker, *the Associated Press of Chicago 



76 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 



was controlled, directly or indirectly, by Alexander 
Sullivan, an Irish Catholic, under a cloud for the 
murder of a Chicago schoolteacher; by Patrick 
Egan, also an Irish Roman Catholic and a fugitive 
from justice; and Dorney, a Roman Catholic ecclesi- 
astic. This instance is perhaps especially flagrant, 
but is not an exceptional instance of the influences 
which have been potent in the Associated Press 
agencies.'" "Prof. Townsend enumerates a large 
number of special instances, v/hich he declares him- 
self able to multiply at great length, in illustra- 
tion of the thraldom of the Associated Press to 
Roman Catholic influences." The importance of 
this editorial will justify this, another extract, 
which is in keeping v/ith the trend of my argument: 
"Prof. Townsend's address builds up a very strong 
cumulative evidence in support of his charge of 
Roman influence upon the press. It furnishes ex- 
asperating evidence in one of its phases of the bold- 
ness, the effrontery, and the insidiousness of the 
Roman Catholic attack upon our principles of free- 
dom. It is a constant threat against our institu- 
tions that no one ought to ignore. Its dangers have 
been much lessened by the constant leaven of the 
spirit of liberty. And yet this very spirit of liberty 
is being clandestinely used by them to break down 
true liberty. It may be naturalized by giving such 
secret machinations the fullest publicity. But there 
ought, moreover, to be a steady effort to meet this 
insidious evil by building up a strong public senti- 
ment which shall be as potent for the freedom and 
fairness of the press as these influences have been 
for its perversion and enslavement." 



EOMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 77 



3. With all these facts before us have we not proper 
cause for alarm? Will we continue to stand idly by 
and look indifferently on while this work of under- 
mining this government is surely progressing to an 
alarming extent? Is it not true that " coming events 
cast their shadows before? " Have we not seen these 
shadows? Can we not learn wisdom by the experi- 
ence of the past? Does not history teach us that 
Catholicism is the deadly enemy to all freedom? 
Does not history teach us that Catholicism is aggres- 
sive and must be guarded and restrained? Let it be 
remembered that the Catholics have always sought 
to rule w^herever it was possible for them to do so; 
that the popes have deposed kings, waged wars, made 
treaties, and have always assumed the right to gov- 
ern the entire world. Confronted as we are by such 
a threatening foe, is it not time for every man to 
stand as a sentinel at the post of duty, to resist and 
repel all these encroachments upon our sacred rights? 
The encyclical letter of the pope from which I have 
quoted, if it be true, is an insult to this republic; and 
should be stamped as treachery, revolutionary, san- 
guinary. It is worse than anarchy and treason. Re- 
member that the Catholics are bound to the pope by 
the strongest bands possible. There is no such obe- 
dience known to men as that of the Catholics to their 
priests, bishops, and popes. They are blinded by 
education, by their theology, by their superstition, by 
their religion. The issues of life and death are sup- 
posed by them to rest in the hands of their ministers. 
They know nothing but obedience. They are swayed 
by a blind zeal which inflames the passions and stul- 
tifies the sensibilities, which impels them to find a 



78 EOMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 



way to execute all the commands of tlieir superiors. 
This makes them the more dangerous. At a word of 
command they will ignore the authority of this gov- 
ernment. They are surely getting ready for some 
emergency. They have long contemplated the reign 
of the pope in this country. 

4. To this end, and to others that look to the prevalen- 
cy of Catholicism, they have organized by the Jesuits a 
mimber of secret societies — to wit, Ancient Order of 
Hibernians, Irish-American Society, Knights of St. 
Patrick's Cadets, St. Patrick Mutual Alliance, Apos- 
tles of Liberty, Benevolent Sons of Emerald Isle, 
Knights of St. Peter, Knights of the Eed Branch, 
Knights of Columskill, and the Sacred Heart. Hear 
what Mr. Chiniquy has to say of these societies: "Al- 
most all these societies are military ones. They have 
their headquarters at San Francisco, but their rank 
and file are scattered all over the United States. 
They number 700,000 soldiers, who, under the name 
of United States Volunteer Militia, are officered by 
some of the most skillful generals and officers of this 
republic. Another fact to which the American 
Protestants do not pay sufficient attention is that the 
Jesuits have been shrewd enough to have a vast ma- 
jority of Roman Catholic generals and officers to 
command the army and man the navy of the United 
States. Home is in constant conspiracy against the 
rights and liberties of men all over the world, but she 
is particularly so in the United States. Long before 
I was ordained a priest I knew that my Church was 
an implacable enemy to this republic. My profess- 
ors of philosophy, history, and theology had been 
unanimous in telling me that the principles and laws 



ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. ' 79 



of the Church of Borne were absolutely antagonistic 
to the laws and principles which are the foundation 
stones of the Constitution of the United States." Can 
any one doubt this ? How can they with the history 
of the past and the utterances of the Eoman Church 
before them? I have before me an item of news 
dated Milwaukee, Wis., May 28, taken from the Fort 
Worth Gazette in (I think) 1890: *'At a mass meeting 
of Catholics held last night a declaration of princi- 
ples was adopted which, after affirming the infalli- 
bility of the pope and acknowledging the dual duty of 
Catholics as members of the Church and as citizens, 
says: . . ." Then follows declarations about he- 
reditary rights, after which the following: "Further- 
more, we consider the maintenance of these rights 
absolutely dependent upon the education of children 
in our own schools. We demand this privilege, and 
shall, independent of other party political interests, 
join at the polls other cities who are of the same opin- 
ion concerning Church schools, so that in the strug- 
gle with our oppressors [Italics mine] we may be more 
sure of victory and maintain for our people Christian 
principles; it is resolved, therefore, that the German 
Catholic societies take an active part in the coming 
State campaign, and Avill organize for that purpose." 
A correspondent of the Neio York Weekly Witness 
of July 19, 1893, says: "A lady of my acquaintance, 
who is a general agent for a book publishing com- 
pany, and a lady of undoubted veracity, spent one 
week in Detroit this spring, and while there was 
invited by a Catholic young lady to go with her to 
her church. She did so, and said she was never so 
frightened in her life. It was a large church and 



80 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 



was literally packed, every bit of standing room even 
was occupied. The whole talk was the abuse of our 
government and the wrongs of Catholics, who were 
kept from office, and their rights, etc. She said the 
congregation was very quiet and listened eagerly to 
every word; but the rage depicted on their counte- 
nances was alarming, and the earnestness and incen- 
diary expressions of the speakers were still more bo. 
What does all this mean, if not trouble? " From the 
same paper I quote from anotlier correspondent the 
following: "I see in your columns of June 28 the 
question: 'Is there a Roman Catholic rebellion on 
foot? ' I would say that there is a possibility of such 
a move on their part, and I believe that they are se- 
cretly preparing their people for such an uprising by 
drilling them in the use of firearms. But they are 
too wise too kill the goose that lays the golden eggs, 
and they will hold on to politics, where they are 
gaining rapidly, till they are forced to do otherwise." 
Kev. J. 8. Smith, in the Nashville Advocate of recent 
date, says: " Even Catholic countries have had to ex- 
pel the Jesuits for political reasons, and we cannot 
expect that they will be less active in this land where 
they are untrammeled. If ice have trouble with them — 
and ive certainly ivill — [Italics mine] — it will be be- 
cause those who hope to profit by their votes will sell 
our liberties for the sake of office and rewarcL^^ 

5. While upon this question I shall presume to give 
afeiv extracts from the *' Tennessee Methodist: " '' Wher- 
ever the public udder distends and the paps do hang, 
there you will find the Catholics on bended knees 
and protruded lips doing vigorous execution; but 
every ounce of nerve and brain and muscular force 



ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 81 



thus gained are laid not on the altar of our great 
Americanism, but in the hand of wily Jesuits, the 
sworn enemies of America and the oath-bound ad- 
herents to a foreign prince who claims the right of 
supremacy over America and views our government 
as a usurper of the rights of Eome. Five of the re- 
cently elected United States Senators were Catholics, 
and they watch and lobby Congress as vigorously as 
do the great monopolies of the country. We are led 
to begin this article by finding in our mail a clipping 
from the Omaha Christian Advocate^ sent us by a 
friend out there, and which we publish elsewhere. 
The editor discusses the mysterious arming of the 
Komanists in this country, and quotes from other pa- 
pers the proof of this fact. The idea of one church 
in this republic, in a time of profound peace, having 
an army of 750,000 men, armed with Winchester 
rifles and whose vows to their head make them more 
pliant and loyal and submissive vassals of this pope 
than any army ever were to their general, is an out- 
rage and a menace which should be put down by the 
strong arm of the law. The article referred to says: 
* The action which furnishes the greatest conundrum 
on the part of Romanists is a secret arming with the 
most expensive and destructive weapons. The Ameri- 
can Order of Hibernians, and other kindred organi- 
zations, are said to have about three-quarters of a 
million men under arms. None but Catholics can 
become members of those orders. For what purpose 
is this drilling and arming with Winchester rifles? 
Within the last month Winchesters have been re- 
ceived at Catholic institutions in Nebraska.' The 
following (under date of February 13, 1893, from 
6 



82 EOMANISM VEKSUS PROTESTANTISM. 



Ellensburg, Wasli. ) appeared recently in the Spohane 
(Wash.) Baihj Review: *The Eoman Catholic priest 
received to-day a consignment of supposed books. 
The '' books " were shipped in obloiog boxes and were 
hauled to the church by a Eoman Catholic drayman. 
They were then stored in the basement of the church. 
Two little boys . . . were playing in the neigh- 
borhood of the church . . . and broke through 
a window in the cellar and discovered that the boxes 
contained Winchester rihes of the newest make. 
Upon leaving the church the boys were met by Eev. 
J. L. Hester, of the M. E. Church of this city, who 
asked them what they had been doing in the Catholic 
church. Their reply led to an investigation and reve- 
lation of these startling truths. The greatest excite- 
ment prevails in the city, and there is considerable 
talk of lynching the priest.' " 

6. We closed the last ^paragraph ivith quotations from 
the *^ Tennessee Methodist'' We wish to add two oth- 
ers from the same paper. "The following is from 
the Tri-City Blade, of Rock Island, 111.: 'The priest 
of Bloomington, 111., has received a consignment of 
Winchester rifles, which were billed "ornamental 
trees." If our enemies who are taking so much 
pleasure in attempting to deny the genuineness of 
the encyclical published by us some time since, and 
also an article headed "A Pamphlet," will deny this, 
we shall take x^ai'ticular ]pains and great pleasure in 
proving the truth of the statement. The priests and 
bishops who received rifles some time ago did not 
deny our charges, nor dare they. They know that 
we possess conclusive proof of our assertions, and if 
necessary could use it, and thus make them falsifiers 



BOMANISM VEKSUS PROTESTANTISM. 83 



and traitors. It is about time that we were awaking 
to a realization o£ the true state of affairs, and taking 
a voice, and if necessary a hand, in this question of 
secret armament' The loyal American of Minne- 
apolis has the following: 'Why are the Eomanists of 
the United States arming themselves? They now 
have a standing army of more than seven hundred 
thousand soldiers. This they dare not deny. A 
Eomish priest at Columbus, O., recently stated that 
the object of these armed bodies was to " march in 
defense of religion." Their churches, monasteries, 
and convents are the hiding places of thousands upon 
thousands of rifles of the latest styles. They are 
preparing for a conflict. Priests and prelates are 
constantly receiving rifles and other implements of 
war, disguised in various ways, and these are surrep- 
titiously conveyed to the sacred building and carefully 
hidden away for future use. In one instance guns 
have been shipped as cofiins;'in another they trav- 
eled under the guise of "mass wine." If the reader 
doubts this, let him write to the custom officials at 
Peoria, 111., and ask for a recent shipment of "mass 
wine" consigned to Bishop Spaulding, which proved 
to be Winchester rifles.' " A correspondent in the 
Neio York Witness of July 19, 1893, says that "it is 
known that arms have been brought to them at Flint, 
Saginaw, Port Huron, and many other places labeled 
fruit trees, books, wine, etc. Sometimes the arms 
are brought in coffins. Some of the boxes have been 
broken in unloading, thus revealing their contents. 
Some have been discovered by the church they were 
stored in being burned, A Catholic at Flint said that 
the people of his Church were to rise and kill the 



84 EOMANISM VERSUS PEOTESTANTISM. 



Protestants. He said they would come in the night 
and it would be a hand to hand fight. Two or three 
women oi the same place have thrown out similar 
hints." Another correspondent in the same issue of 
this paper introduces testimony that shows that this 
arming has been going on for at least ten years. 
The question arises: Why does not the government 
investigate these statements and find out the truth con- 
cerning them? An echo answers: " Why? " It does 
appear that there is^ evidence enough to demand 
an investigation. But alas! an indescribable apathy 
overhangs this government. Inadvertently the mind 
sweeps back through the centuries to 352 and 340 
B.C., when Philip of Macedon was planning the sub- 
jugation of Greece. The greatest orator of that age, 
Demosthenes, thundered his philippics in defense 
of Grecian liberty against the designs of Philip. 
But so great was the apathy of the people that they 
heeded not, and so suffered the consequences of 
their stupidity. A. V/. Hall sends out a book, " The 
School Plot Unmasked," in which ex-President Lin- 
coln is quoted as saying: *'I do not pretend to be a 
prophet, but though not a prophet I can see a very 
dark cloud on our horizon, and that cloud is coming 
from Rome. It is filled with tears of blood." 

7. The American people are slow to believe that it 
is possible for Bome to accomplish her purpose of deso- 
lation and death in this land of chivalri/. But this is 
no guarantee that Rome will not undertake sooner 
or later to convert this country into a Catholic coun- 
try, although it may cost her the lives of thou- 
sands of her subjects. Many, very many of my 
countrymen will not accept as true statements such 



ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 85 



as are given above. But here let me ask: Is this con- 
verting of church buildings and school buildings into 
arsenals unprecedented in the annals of the past? 
By no means. During the late revolution in Mexico, 
when she as a nation threw off the galling yoke of 
Catholic tyranny, it was found that Rome was armed 
and equipped with the appurtenances of war. As 
the revolutionists marched from town to town they 
were resisted by armed bodies of Catholics. This 
led to the discovery that the Catholic church houses, 
and school buildings had been made the receptacles 
of arms. This led to the confiscation of all the prop- 
erty of the Catholic Church by the general govern- 
ment; and to this day, while the Catholic Church is 
allowed to use the most of this property, it is 
owned by the government. So Kome had prepared 
for war in time of peace. If that was her policy in 
Mexico, may we not conclude that such is her policy 
in the United States? Is Rome divided? Is she 
one thing in Mexico and another in the United 
States? No, verily. She may shift her policy as 
times and circumstances may vary, but never her 
purposes or her principles. I dare assert that if 
Rome did arm her subjects in Mexico in time of 
peace she will do the same thing in the United States. 
The evidence before us is that she is now arming for 
the conflict contemi)lated in the future. I shall not 
enter into any speculation respecting the prophecies 
at this time. Whatever may be their true interpreta- 
tion, there can be no doubt that Daniel, as well as 
John, with prophetic vision penetrated the veil of 
thie future and viewed the m.ighty contest between 
God's true saints and the children of the mystic 



86 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM, 



'* BABYLON THE GEEAT, THE MOTHEE OF 
HAELOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE 
EAETH." Whether this contest be on the arena of 
moral and religious ethics, or a physical contest upon 
the gory field of battle, I shall not now undertake 
to say, but will say that I incline to the latter view. 
That in the end God's cause and his people shall 
conquer is fully declared in his Word. 

8. What more can I say? What more need be said 
to soimd the tocsin? But I see some looking askance, 
ready to say that this' is all imagination, an illusion, 
or hallucination, or something of that sort; our in- 
stitutions are not imperiled. These Catholics are 
harmless people. They are inoffensive, quiet, gentle, 
good citizens — yes, very pious! No harm to anybody 
or anything! Did not the Legate, SatoUi, on the 5th 
of September, at the great conference salute the 
American people in the name of Pope Leo, and bid 
the Catholics of America to go forward, in one hand 
bearing the Book of Christian truth, and in the 
other the Constitution of the United States? Hear! 
"Papal delegate, Satolli, wrapping the purple folds 
of his robe of office tightly about him, and speaking 
w^ith a burning intensity of feeling that surprised 
and enraptured the great multitude of people listen- 
ing, delivered this message to-day in the Catholic 
Congress. The delegate, but a moment before, had 
been received with thunderous outburst of applause 
while mounting the platform with Archbishop Ire- 
land." Yes, indeed! And did not Judas betray his 
Lord with a kiss? Y/as not Csesar forced to exclaim 
in the hour of his peril : ''Et tu, Brute ? " Who did the 
applauding — the Catholics or the Protestants? Let 



ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 87 



■US consider the account of an ovation given Bishop 
Odin recently at San Antonio, Tex. I refer to a 
special in the daily Gazette of July 13: "This was 
the Catholic jubilee celebration in honor of the fifth 
anniversary of the arrival of the late Bishop Odin, 
and the fifth anniversary of the ordination of Bishop 
Dubois, second bishop at Galveston. A salute of 
fifty guns was fired [Italics mine], with a programme 
of exercises." How do these accounts sound to you? 
When did the people ever fire a salute in honor of a 
Protestant bishop? Are not these things but pre- 
monitions of startling events in the near future? 
But I am told that " Brutus is an honorable man " ( ?). 
Yes, I am again reminded that their schools are su- 
perior. And you intend to continue to patronize 
them. Can you do itwdth your eyes open? I ask in 
the name of reason, how can you ? Are you a Meth- 
odist, a Presbyterian, a Baptist, and then patronize a 
Catholic school? I must say that you present to me 
an enigma that I shall not attempt to name lest I of- 
fend you. It is strange to me that any person who 
values the interest of his child, and pretends to be 
consistent with himself as a Protestant, can for one 
moment entertain the thought of patronizing these 
Catholic schools. I met a gentleman on the streets, 
not a great while ago, who told me that there were 
Methodists in this city — here under the shadow of 
one of the best female colleges in the South (the 
Waco Female College), under the shadow of the 
Baylor University (under the auspices of the Baptist 
Church), and under the shadow^ of first-class public 
schools, and under the shadow of a first-class private 
school — wdio are patronizing the Catholic convent 



88 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 



Speaking to this question, Mr. Chiniquy says of tliese 
Catholic schools: *' These colleges and nunneries are 
the high citadels from which the pope darts his 
surest missiles against the rights and liberties of 
nations. The colleges and nunneries are the arsenals 
where the most deadly weapons are, night and day, 
prepared to fight and destroy the soldiers of liberty 
all over the world. The colleges and nunneries of the 
priests are the secret places where the enemies of 
progress, equality, and liberty are holding their coun- 
cils and fomenting their great conspiracy, the object, 
of which is to enslave the world at the feet of the 
pope. The colleges and nunneries of Kome are the 
schools where the rising generation are taught that it 
is impiety to follow the dictates of their own con- 
science, hear the voice of their intelligence, read the 
Word of God, and worship their Creator according to 
the rules laid down in the gospel. It is in the col- 
leges and nunneries of Eome that men learn that 
they are created to obey the pope in all things, that 
the Bible must be burned, and that liberty must be 
destroyed at any cost all over the world." You who 
plead for these schools do not know what you are 
doing. You have mistaken your reckoning; you are 
deceived. You are accustomed to look upon the 
smooth surface of this mighty tide of ruin unmind- 
ful of the deep current beneath and the restrained 
force that is ready at the opportune time to leap 
forth into that impetuosity that will devastate every- 
thing before it. If it were only possible to make the 
people of this age and in tliis country realize that the 
Catholic CInirch is now what it has always been! If 
they could only be aroused to the fact that the same 



ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 89 



principles and purposes obtain with Rome to-day 
tliat prompted Hildebrand, under the title of Gregory 
VII., to inaugurate a contest for universal supremacy 
which has never ceased! Many times have emperors 
and kings been made to realize the power of these 
haughty pontiffs. Let us cite an instance or two: 
During the eleventh century it had become the cus- 
tom for sovereigns who visited the pope to hold his 
stirrup when he mounted his horse. This token of 
submission was demanded by Adrian, the pope, be- 
fore he would consent to place the crown on the head 
of Barbarossa. "For two days Frederick resisted 
the demand, but at length reluctantly yielded. He 
held the stirrup as Adrain placed his foot in it, and 
then received the pontifical kiss of peace, and was 
crowned in due form." ("Lives of the Popes," Vol. 
II., p. 155.) In 1177 the fortunes of Frederick were 
so changed that he was forced to an interview with 
Pope Victor III., at Venice. " It is related that the 
emperor kissed the feet of the pontiff, and the pope 
placed his feet on the bold warrior's neck, apostro- 
phizing himself in the language of the Scripture, 
'Thou shalt tread upon the adder and the lion!' 
v/hereupon the emperor indignantly replied, ^Not 
unto thee, but unto St. Peter be this honor!'" 
("Lives of the Popes," Vol. VIL, p. 107.) But why 
cite instances, when every one who is at all familiar 
with history knows full well how the popes have 
ever usurped authority over princes, kings, governors, 
and emperors; that they have ever claimed since the 
days of Hildebrand that the pope is the supreme 
head of the State as well as the Church ? 



CHAPTEE VII. 

The Lecture of Father O'Shannahan— Catholics Are tlie Same 
Now as Ever — Old Tricks Repeated — Roman Persecution — 
Gaining Ground — Bishop Newton — Spanish Inquisition — 
The Mexican Inquisition — Catholic Intolerance — Reviewer 
Reviewed — Powderly. 

1, Re VERTING to the fact that the Catholic Church 
has not changed, nor can it change, for the reason that 
they claim to he infallible, I v^ill invite the attention 
of the reader to the foUovv^ing, which I quote from 
the Laredo Daily News of July 19, 1893: "A great 
lecturer, Father O'Shannahan, delivered a lecture 
at Market Hall. His theme, the Church of which he 
is so great a representative, the Church and the Bi- 
ble." The lecturer began v/ith the following state- 
ment: " We shall try to give a clear idea of the 
meaning of that institution which we Roman Catho- 
lics call * the Church,' and then we shall explain what 
relation the Bible, or Word of God, bears to the 
Church." After postulating certain facts bearing 
upon the subject in hand, he proceeds to adroitly- 
state: ''Another kindred error which cannot take the 
place of a Church is ' private judgment,' which makes 
each one's reason the last test and standard of belief, 
and which makes every one his own pope." It will 
be seen that this is equivalent to saying that no indi- 
vidual has the right to read and interpret the Bible, 
but instead, the pope must interpret for his subjects. 
This is what has already been stated in this series of 
articles. We have also called attention to the fact 
that they claim to be the only Church, and that the 
(90) 



ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 91 



pope is infallible, and his decisions are unerring and 
must be obeyed. Listen at this: "Again, we cannot 
admit as constituting a Church any assembly which 
acknowledges a crowned head or a court of arches or 
a majority in a synod or a conference of bishops or 
ministers as judge of last appeal, unless such person 
or court or majority claim, and prove the claim [Italics 
mine], that they are specially directed by God in their 
decision." Noiv there is no Church hut the Catholic 
Church which lays claim to such special assistance, 
and therefore to infallibility in the decisions of her 
council, presided over by her visible head, the poi:e." 
Here we have the latest evidence that Rome claims 
to-day what she has ever claimed: (1) that she is the 
only Church; (2) that she is infallible; (3) that the 
pope is the supreme arbiter, the holy (?) oracle, 
Heaven's vicegerent. Do not be in doubt, for Father 
O'Shannahan does not disguise his words at this 
point. Hear him: " To each of the apostles and their 
successors he gave sufficient and abundant powers to 
teach, to minister to, to govern the churches they 
should found; to Peter and to Peter's successors, and 
to them only, He gives the keys of the kingdom, the 
government of that earthly realm, the Church, which 
was to become the kingdom of heaven. To him alone 
He gives the universal power ( he puts the verb ^' gives " 
in the present tense) to bind and to loose, to pasture 
the flocks and the shepherds, to confirm and fortify 
all his brethren. If human language has any mean- 
ing, surely this means that Peter and his lawful suc- 
cessors are the divinely appointed heads of the 
Church. Undeniable facts and historic monuments, 
or rather I would say the whole uncontrovertible bis- 



92 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 



tory o£ the Church, tracing its authority from pontiff 
to pontiff, from Leo in our day in one continuous retro- 
cession up to the clays of Peter ( ?), is one great monu- 
ment bearing out the words of the master." (The 
Italics are mine.) Here we have the language of 
Father O'Shannahan, President of the Galveston 
Jesuit College, who, while on a visit to the Eight 
Eeverend Bishop Peter Verdaguer at Laredo, Tex., 
in the month of July, 1893, and at the bishop's re- 
quest, delivered at Market Hall on Sunday night, July 
16, the lecture from wKich I am quoting. By refer- 
ence to a former chapter the reader will find this 
claim stated and refuted. My object for repeating 
this language here is to fix upon the mind of the 
reader the fact that Eome has never changed her 
teaching or her principles or purposes. In this lec- 
ture, the President of the Jesuit College at Gal- 
veston, speaks to the question of the Church and the 
Bible. Speaking of the Bible, he says: "Thus it is 
by the authority of the Catholic Church only [this is 
false] that we have a New Testament; and if we do 
not admit her authority to he infallihJe, we have no 
New Testament at all." After speaking of the igno- 
rance of the people and the differences of the opin- 
ions of men and the great need of a correct interpret- 
er, this Jesuit President says: "Such an organ 
[meaning oracle-infallible interpreter of the Bible] 
there must have been, indefectible and unchangeable, 
and ever si)eaking in the full consciousness of hers 
beiug the voice of God. There is nobody but the 
Catholic Church that lays claim to this infallible au- 
thority. She is the Church of the ages, the same yester- 
day and to-day aytd forever'' (Italics mine.) 



ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 93 



2, I am much obliged to the learned President of the 
Jesuit College at Galveston for coming forward at this 
opportune time in this discussion, and for speakiyig so 
fully and frankly. The same Church to-day as yes- 
terday and forever. No mistake about this. She 
is just the same to-day, without the slightest mod- 
ification of her persecuting predilection, that she 
was when she drove the unoffending Moors from 
Spain. After every promise had been made to those 
v/lio chose to remain by the Catholics of leniency and 
fidelity, they, under the leadershijj of Ferdinand, af- 
flicted this unfortunate people with persecution and 
death. O yes, the Church of Rome is just the same 
to-day as she was when Philip II. established the In- 
quisition in the Netherlands, and sought to extermi- 
nate the Protestants. Egmont, Horn, and other prom- 
inent men were executed and horrible cruelties per- 
petrated. Yes, Father O'Shannahan, President of 
the Jesuit College at Galveston, is right when he tells 
us that the Church of Eome is the same to-day and 
forever, exactly the same to-day as when she 
planned and executed the assassination of President 
Lincoln. (If the reader desires to read the evidence 
of this, refer to " Fifty Years in the Church of Rome," 
pp. 711, 735, and "The School Plot Unmasked," pp. 
99-101.) The Church of Rome never intends to 
change; she is just as full of perfidity to-day, as shown 
by her conduct in the case of Rev. C. F. Kolin, an ex- 
priest of the Roman Church, as in the days of Mary 
Queen of Scots. But what of Rev. O. F. Kolin? In 
the Cejitral Methodist of August 5, 1893, we are in- 
formed that Rev. C. F. Kolin became convinced that 
the Catholic Church was wrong, and accordingly 



94 KOMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 



joined tlie Methodist Episcopal Clmrch, South. He 
was received into tlie Scotfc Street Church in Coving- 
ton, Ky. On the evening of May 25 Mr. Kolin de- 
livered a lecture against Romanism at Odd Fellows' 
Hall under the auspices of the "American Protective 
Association " of Covington. This excited the choler 
of the Catholics; they charged that Mr. Kolin was a 
libertine, and had seduced his own sister, and on this 
account had been suspended from the Eomish 
Church. These charges w^ere made through the 
Commonicealth of June 9. Subsequently a full state- 
ment of all the facts, from the highest authority, re- 
vealed the truth that the charge of heresy had been al- 
leged against Mr. Kolin; the specification was that 
he had defended John Hvss, the Protestant martyr. 
So Eome continues her old tricks of deceiving by 
falsehood, aspersing character, or taking life, as occa- 
sion may require and as she may have opportunity. 

3. I call upon the reader to think carefidly about the 
fifth anniversary of the arrival of one Bishop of Rome 
and the fifth anniversary of the ordination of another 
being made the occasion of a grand ovation and fifty 
gims fired as a salute. Who ever heard of such a 
thing in this country before? But surely these 
are perilous times. Note names: O'Shannahan, Yer- 
daguer, etc. The names are foreign names, indica- 
ting to us that for the most part these are foreigners 
who are threatening the liberties of this country. 
The foreign Catholic element is fast taking this 
country. Statistics show that the Catholics in 1890 
in the six New England States exceeded in the num- 
ber of her communicants all other denominations ta- 
ken together by many thousands, the Catholics num- 



ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 95 



bering 1,005,120 and the Protestants 763,987. Bead 
what a correspondent of the Congregational says of 
the Catholics at the national capital: "Washington 
is the center of Roman Catholic power, prestige, and 
propagandism. This is not the result of immigra- 
tion; it is the product of natural growth and develop-- 
ment, whose early beginoings reach back to a period 
coetaneous with the laying of the foundations of the 
republic. But other circumstances than that of age 
have contributed to shed luster upon the Eoman 
Catholic Church in the District. The presence of 
the ablegate of the reigning pontiff; the frequent 
visits of the cardinal from the neighboring and an- 
cient see of Baltimore; the reside-nce of a diplomatic 
corps, many of whom are Catholics; the erection of a 
new university on a scale with which no other Catho- 
lic institution in this country is commensurate; the 
crush of visitors in Washington, many of whom are 
of the Catholic faith; and the appearance in the local 
pulpits and chancels of renowned prelates arouse and 
sustain an intense esprit de corp^. Well-filled churches, 
numerous parochial schools, and divers institutions 
of an educational, monastic, or charitable character 
greet one in the city and in its environments, and 
weekly religious newspapers bulletin the Church 
news and scoff at Protestantism." 

4, I ivish to impress the mind of the reader with the 
fact that Rome is to-day, in all the elements of organ- 
ism., in everythijig which constitutes a corporate body, 
tvhat she has always been. I would ring the changes 
upon this fact because it is necessary for our self- 
protection. Touching the subject of Catholic in- 
tolerance and cruelty. Bishop Newton, in his work 



96 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 



on the *' Prophecies" (pp. 541, 542), in comment- 
ing on Kevelations xiii. 6, says: "So much for his 
blasphemies; nor are his exploits less extraordinary. 
* It was given unto him to make war with the saints, 
and to overcome them;' and who can make any com- 
pensation, or even form any conception of the num- 
ber of the pious Christians who have fallen a sacrifice 
to the bigotry and cruelty of Eonae ? Mede, comment- 
ing upon this text, hath observed, from good authori- 
ties, that in the war with the Albigenses and Walden- 
ses there perished of these poor creatures in France 
alone a million. From the first institution of the 
Jesuits to the year 1480 — that is, a little more than 
thirty years — 900,000 orthodox Christians were slain. 
In the Netherlands alone the Duke of Alva boasted 
that in a few years he had dispatched to the amount 
of 36,000 souls, and those all by the hand of the 
common executioner. In the space of scarce thirty 
years the Inquisition destroyed by various kinds of 
tortures 150,000 Christians. Sanders himself con- 
fesses that an innumerable multitude of Lollards 
and Sacramentarians were burned throughout all 
Europe, who yet he says were not put to death by the 
pope and bishops, but by the civil magistrates, which 
perfectly agrees with this prophecy, for of the secu- 
lar beast it is said that *he shall make war with the 
saints and overcome them.' . . . Let the Roman- 
ists boast that theirs is the catholic Church and uni- 
versal empire ; this is so far from being any evidence 
of the truth that it is the very brand infixed by the 
spirit of prophesy." 

5. .7 here subjoin a description of the Spanish Inqui- 
sition taken from the ^^ School Plot Unmasked.'' The 



ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 97 



picture was drawn by Col. Lehmanowsky, o£ Ka- 
poleon's army, who at the head of a troop of sol- 
diers proceeded to the Inquisition buildings, situated 
about five miles from the city of Madrid. Napoleon 
had previously issued orders for the suppression of 
inquisitions whenever possible. Putting the priests 
under guard and making prisoners of the soldiers of 
the Inquisition, the Colonel gives the following ac- 
count of what he saw and what was done: " We then 
proceeded to examine all the rooms of the stately 
edifice. We passed through room after room, found 
all perfectly in order, richly furnished, with altars 
and crucifixes and wax candles in abundance; but 
could discover no evidence of iniquity being prac- 
ticed there, nothing of those peculiar features which 
we expected to find in an Inquisition. We found 
splendid paintings, and a rich and extensive library. 
Here was beauty and splendor, and the most perfect 
order on which my eyes had ever rested. The archi- 
tecture, the proportions, were perfect. The floors of 
wood were scoured and highly polished. The marble 
floors were arranged with a strict regard to order. 
There was everything to please the eye and gratify a 
cultivated taste. Where, then, were those horrid hu 
strmnents of torture of which we had been told? and 
where were those dungeons in which human beings 
were said to be buried alive? We searched in vain. 
The holy fathers assured us that they had been be- 
lied; that we had seen all, and I was prepared to give 
up the search, convinced that this Inquisition was 
different from others of which I had heard. But 
Col. De Lile was nv>t so ready as myself to give up 
the search, and said to me: * Colonel, you are com- 
7 



98 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 



mander to-day, and as you say, so must it be; but 
if you will be advised by me, let this marble floor 
be examined. Let water be brought and poured 
upon it, and we will watch and see if there is any 
place through which it passes more freely than oth- 
ers.' I replied to him, *Do as you please. Colonel,' 
and ordered water to be brought. The slabs of mar- 
ble were large and beautifully polished. When the 
water had been poured over the floor, much to the 
dissatisfaction of the inquisitors, a careful examina- 
tion was made of every seam in the floor, to see if 
the water passed through. Presently Col. De Lile 
exclaimed that he had found it. By the side of 
one of those marble slabs the water passed through 
fast, as though there was an opening, beneath. All 
hands were now at work for further discovery. Offi- 
cers with their swords, and soldiers with their bayo- 
nets, sought to clear out the seam and pry up the 
slab; others, with the butts of their muskets, struck 
the slab with all their might to break it, while the 
priests remonstrated against our desecrating their 
holy and beautiful house. While thus engaged, a 
soldier struck a spring, and the marble slab flew up. 
Then the faces of the inquisitors grew pale as Bel- 
shazzar when the handwriting appeared on the wall. 
They trembled all over. Beneath the marble slab, 
now partly up, there was a staircase. I stepped to 
the altar and took one of the candles, four feet in 
length, which was burning, that I might explore the - 
room below. As I was doing this I was arrested by 
one of the inquisitors, who laid his hand gently on 
my arm, and with a very demure look said: ' My son, 
you must not take those lights with your bloody 



ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 99 



hands; they are holy.' 'Well/ I said, 'I will take a 
holy thing to shed light ou iniquity; I will bear the 
responsibility.' I proceeded down the staircase. As 
we reached the foot of the stairs we entered a large, 
square room, the hall of judgment. In the center 
of it was a terge block and a chain fastened to it. 
On this they had been accustomed to place the ac- 
cused, chained to his seat. On one side of the room 
was an elevated seat, the throne of judgment. 
This the inquisitor generally occupied, and on either 
side were seats less elevated for the holy fathers, 
when engaged in the solemn business of the holy In- 
quisition. From this room w^e proceeded to the right 
and obtained access to small cells, extending the entire 
length of the edifice. Here saddening sights pre- 
sented themselves. These cells were places of soli- 
tary confinement, where the wretched objects of in- 
quisitorial hate were confined year after year, till 
death released them from their sufferings, and there 
their bodies remained until they were entirely decayed, 
and their rooms had become fit for others to occupy. 
Flues or tubes, extending to the open air, carried off 
the effluvia. In these cells were found some who had 
paid the debt of nature; some of them had been dead 
apparently for a short time, while of others nothing 
remained but their bones, still chained to the floor of 
their dungeon. In other cells we found living suffer- 
ers of both sexes and of every age, from threescore 
years and ten down to fourteen or fifteen years, all 
naked as wdien born into the world, and all in chains. 
Here were old men and aged women who had been 
shut up for many years. Here, too, were the middle- 
aged and the young man, and the maiden of fourteen 



100 KOMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 



years old. The soldiers imraediately went to work 
tp release these captives from their chains, and took 
from their knapsacks their overcoats and other cloth- 
ing, which they gave to cover their nakedness. They 
were exceedingly anxious to bring them to the light 
of day; but Col. Lile, aware of the danger, had food 
given them, and then brought them gradually to the 
light, as they were able to bear it. We then pro- 
ceeded to explore another room on the left. Here 
we found instruments of torture of every kind which 
the ingenuity of men or of devils could invent. The 
first was a machine by which the victim was confined; 
and then, beginning with the fingers, every joint in 
the hands, arms, and body were drawn or broken, one 
after another, until the victim died. The second was 
a box in which the head and neck of the victim were 
so closely confined by a screw that he could not move 
in any way. Over the box was a vessel of water from 
which one drop of water a second fell upon the head 
of the victim. Every successive drop falling upon 
precisely the same place soon suspended circulation, 
and put the sufferer in the most excruciating agony. 
The third was an infernal machine, laid liorizontally, 
to which the victim was bound. The machine was 
then placed between two beams, in which were scores 
of knives, so fixed that, by turning the machine with 
a crank, the flesh of the sufferer was torn from his 
limbs, all in small pieces. The fourth surpassed the 
others in fiendish ingenuity. Its exterior was a 
beautiful woman, or large doll, richly dressed, with 
arms extended, ready to embrace its victim. Around 
her feet a semicircle was drawn. The victim who 
passed over this fatal mark touched a spring, which 



ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 101 



caused the diabolical engine to open; its arms clasped 
him, and a thousand knives cut him into as many 
pieces in the deadly embrace. Col. Lile said that 
the sight of these infernal engines of cruelty kindled 
the rage of the soldiers to fury. They declared that 
every inquisitor and soldier of the Inquisition should 
be put to torture. Their rage was ungovernable. 
Col. Lile did not oppose them. They might have 
turned their arms against him if he had attempted to 
arrest their work. They began with the holy fathers. 
The first they put to death in the machine for break- 
ing joints. The torture of the inquisitor put to 
death by the dropping of water on his head was most 
excruciating. The poor man cried out in agony to 
be taken from the fatal machine. The inquisitor- 
general was brought before the infernal machine 
called ' The Yirgin.' He begged to be excused. *No ! ' 
said they; *you have caused others to kiss her, and 
now you must do it.' They interlocked their bayo- 
nets so as to form large forks, and with these they 
pushed him over the deadly circle. The beautiful 
image instantly prepared for the embrace, clasped 
him in its arms, and he was cut into innumerable 
pieces. Col. Lile said he witnessed the torture of 
four of them; his heart sickened at the awful scene, 
and he left the soldiers to wreak their awful venge- 
ance on the last guilty inmates of that prison house 
of hell. In the meantime it was reported through 
Madrid that the prisons of the Inquisition were 
broken open, and the multitudes hastened to the fatal 
spot. And O what a meeting was there! It was like 
a resurrection! About a hundred, who had been 
buried for many years, were now restored to life. 



102 KOMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 



There were fathers who had found their long-lost 
daughters; wives were restored to their husbands, 
sisters to their brothers, and parents to their chil- 
dren; and there were some who could recognize no 
friend among the multitude. The scene was such as 
no tongue could describe." By order of Col. Lile 
this Inquisition was blown up and destroyed. 

6. Eev. O. M. Owen, in his *^ School Plot Tin- 
masked" (pp. 68-62), quotes Prof. L. T. Town- 
send as follows: '^The immense buildings of the In- 
quisition at Mexico City are central, and since their 
confiscation by the government have been converted 
into colleges of medicine. This Inquisition of Mex- 
ico was only one of scores in that country. There 
were inquisitorial buildings in all the large cities. 
The SL Domingo church and monastery at Oajaca, 
which covered, with its courts, thirteen acres, was 
another one of these places of judgment and death. 
In one of the rooms there you can se3 a wheel ten 
feet in diameter, on which the poor victims of the 
Inquisition were broken; in another is a huge grate 
or gridiron on which heretics were roasted, the fire 
being applied first to the feet and then to other parts 
of the body. After the passages of the laws of re- 
form and the confiscation of this property, there were 
taken from an immense wall tons of human bones. 
The deeds of that Inquisition, and of others in Mex- 
ico, are not surpassed by any acts of brutality perpe- 
trated by the most bloodthirsty savages this world 
has ever known. I spent hours at Pueblo in reading 
what is called the ^Blue Book,' descriptive of the 
Mexican Inquisition. The author is one of the best- 
known writers in Mexico. The manuscripts from 



ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 103 



wTiicli the book was compiled were discovered after 
the reform laws were passed, in one of the churches 
where they had been concealed. Time would fail 
me to describe the horrible deeds there recorded. 
Listen to this one: A wealthy Jewish famil}^, Carajel 
by name, would not abandon the faith, of their fathers. 
Among the members of the family was a beautiful girl, 
eighteen years of age, who was ordered to be stripped 
of all her clothing, and stand during her examination 
naked before the Inquisition, consisting of eighteen 
or twenty men. After this brutal examination she 
was submitted to the strangling process of torture, 
and after breathing her last her body w^as burned on 
the plaza. The entire family were murdered and all 
their property confiscated to the Church. These 
were the times of Home's glory and power, when 
without fear or restraint she could show her bloody 
hand. When the Inquisition buildings in Mexico 
City were examined after the passage of the reform 
laws, some of the walls were discovered to be hollow. 
They were broken in and found to consist of apart- 
ments in which men, condemned by the Inquisition, 
were entombed w^hile alive. [Photographs were 
shown of the skeletons as they were found.] Several 
squares from the Inquisition buildings was the fa- 
mous Franciscan Monastery of Mexico City, This 
was bought by the Methodist Episcopal Church, and 
is now our missionary headquarters. Two or three 
years ago a change was made by our people in the 
front wall. While the workmen were removing a 
part of the wall, they broke into what is called a 
well, or closet, and found forty-seven skeletons. 
Let the liberals,' who fancy Eome has changed, and 



104 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 



would never attempt to carry out her threats in 
reference to the payment of school taxes, etc., re- 
member that all Rome's laws against heresy and 
statutes concerning persecution remain in her canon 
law to-day unabrogated, and as Rome, in its own 
estimation, is "unchangeable " and 'infallible," these 
decrees remain in full force. All Rome wants is the 
opportunity and the power, and she would exhibit 
the same murderous hate as in the darkest days of 
the Inquisition. At the beginning of the sixteenth 
century Rome boasted that not a jingle heretic could 
be found. Now Christendom contains millions of 
those whom the papacy calls heretics, and whom it 
would exterminate if it could. The hatred of Rome 
for heretics is the same to-day as when she dug up and 
burned Wyclif's bones, forty-one years after hisdeath." 

7. The iynportance to us of this boast of Father 
O'Shannahan, that the Roman Church is ''the same 
yesterday and to-day and for ever, ^^ will justify the 
lengthy quotations given. The masses of the people 
should know what Rome has been in the past, and 
that she claims to be the same to-day. Let the world 
know that Rome has never changed; that she is not 
ashamed of her record — yea, rather that she glories in 
it — that she justifies all her bloody deeds of the past, 
and recounts them with pleasure. 

That we may not mistake the intent and spirit of 
Rome, but may apprehend the true animus of her 
subjects and be cognizant of her persecuting spirit, 
which would to-day wipe out every vestige of opposi- 
tion to her tenets, and fill this land witli horror and 
blood, I will give the reader the following para- 
graphs from the Fort Worth Gazette. But before do- 



ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 105 



ing so, perhaps it is best to say that the "American 
Protective Association " is an organization to protect 
this republic from Catholic rule; to protect our lib- 
erties, our wives and children, our homes, our reli- 
gion, our all from ruin and death, as contemplated by 
the "MOTHER OF HAELOTS AKD ABOMI- 
NATIONS." Here are the paragraphs i 

^^Kansas City, Mo., September 22, — The American 
Protective Association held a meeting to-night, and 
at its close, as its members were leaving the hall, 
they were attacked by a crowd of Catholics. Before 
the police could interfere several of each side were 
slightly injured. The police finally dispersed the 
crowd, making several arrests^ the crowd being 
about equally represented in' wagons that drove to 
the police station." {Fort Worth Gazette, September 
29,1893.) 

^'SL Paul, September 59.— Fears of a riot are enter- 
tained at the lecture of Evangelist Leyden at Market 
Hall to-night. Dr. Leyden is a former Catholic, of 
Boston, and is lecturing under the auspices of the 
American Protective Association, which has for its 
object the suppression of Catholic civil and temporal 
power. Dr. Leyden was recently placed in the field, 
and is to speak here three nights. The Catholics are 
intensely excited, and Father Heffron openly predicts 
a riot if Dr, Leyden persists in speaking in Market 
Hall. Up to noon all endeavors to persuade the ex- 
priest to select another lecturing place have failed, 
and it is understood that militia protection will be 
asked for. The Catholics openly avow their purpose 
not to let the lecture go on." {Fort Worth Gazette, 
September 29, 1893.) 



106 ROMANISM VERSUS TROTESTANTISM. 



''St Louis, Mo., October 27.— Ex-Priest Sattery to- 
night gave a lecture to men only at Central Turner 
Hall, on Tenth Street^ near Market. The place was 
crowded to suffocation, and several hundred were un- 
able to gain admission. They remained in the vicini- 
ty, patronizing to an almost -unlimited extent the near- 
by saloons. During the lecture the crowd was very 
boisterous, but made no threatening demonstrations. 
About 10 o'clock, at the conclusion of the lecture, 
Sattery, accompanied^ by his wife, who was waiting 
for him in the anteroom, started for the hotel, on 
Chestnut Street, near Sixth. The crowd followed, 
growing more and more boisterous every minnte. Fi- 
nally, surrounding the couple, the crowd almost with 
one voice yelled : ' Lynch him ! Teach him a lesson ! ' 
Eecruits joined the crowd every minute. As they 
pressed close, Sattery threw one arm around his wife, 
and, shaking his disengaged finger at the crowd, 
hurled defiance in their teeth. A score of policemen 
at this moment charged the crowd, but were unable to 
reach Sattery. Growing wilder every moment, the 
crowd repeated the yells of * Lynch him!' 'Cut his 
heart out ! ' ' Kill the fanatic! ' etc. Eeenforcements 
arrived from the police station, and the ofiicers were 
enabled to make their way to the side of the twain 
agpvinst whom the mob's cries were directed and at 
whom stones and other missiles now began to be 
thrown. The ofiicers finally succeeded in getting Sat- 
tery to the hotel. Just at the entrance the mob was 
now numbering upward of one thousand, who made 
a last desperate effort to wrench Sattery from the of- 
ficers, but with a deft movement the officers pushed 
him into the hostelry and closed the doors, leaving 



ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 107 



the mob outside." {Fort Worth Gazette^ October 28, 
1893.) 

8. This effort on thepm^t of the Catholics to emharfree 
speech, mid to use mob violence to this end, is 7iothing less 
than we are to expect. It is in keeping with their reli- 
gion; it is a part of their system of propagandism; it is 
the same spirit of intolerance that established and 
maintained the Inquisition. A few years ago the 
Catholics would not have dared to do such a thing as 
the above mentioned in this country; now it is possi- 
ble for them to do this, not hesitating to use violence 
for argument. It appears that these public demon- 
strations of violence are prompted by the priests. 
In the second paragraph quoted, a priest, Father 
Heffron, *' publicly predicted a riot," which being in- 
terpreted means he instigated a riot — was the power 
behind the throne. What right have these Catholics 
to interfere with lecturers? Who ever heard of 
Methodists, Presbyterians, Baptists, or any other 
branch of the Protestant Church in all this land of 
ours interfering with any priest, preacher, or lecturer? 
It matters not if a minister does leave one Protestant 
Church and join another, or if he should join the Cath- 
olic Church. He is not denied the right of free speech. 
He may thunder his denunciations against the Church 
from whence he came, if he should so desire. No one 
cares how vociferous he becomes. But the Catholics 
undertake by the tongue of slander, by mob violence, 
and by all other means to suppress the voice of 
the expriests. If the Protestants should persecute 
an ex-Protestant preacher who might chance to join 
the Catholics, as the Catholics have persecuted the 
expriests, as we have seen, the very earth would be 



108 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 



made hideous with the cry of persecution. Every 
secular paper throughout the land would repeat the 
howl. But as the case now stands, the custom is to 
give such paragraphs to the public without comment 
or a word of adverse criticism. In the name of rea- 
son I ask: What does this mean? But stranger still, 
I find the following editorial in the Gazette of Octo- 
ber 3, 1893: 

^^Not Americanism, — x\n association has been formed 
under the title of the ^American Protective Associa- 
tion,' with the avowed purpose of keeping believers 
in Roman Catholicism from holding office. It is 
needless to say that among the first declarations made 
by the framers of this government was that one de- 
claring in principle, if not in exact language, that 
no man's religious opinions should be in any sense a 
barrier. Certainly few men would exercise liberty of 
conscience when their peculiar beliefs debarred them 
from office holding, so widely the ambition of Ameri- 
can citizens. Such an organization is therefore in 
conflict with the spirit of our institutions and contra- 
ry to the principles of justice. While this is avowed- 
ly a Christian nation, religion is not fundamental in 
the government. The question that bears upon of- 
fice holding is one of fitness to discharge the duties of 
the office, and not one of sectarianism. If a Eoman 
Catholic can swear allegiance to the government, and 
faithfully discharge the duties of a citizen, to him 
every place in the government he honors should be 
open. Once in this land of freedom neither a Qua- 
ker nor a Baptist could dwell in certain communities. 
Once in Great Britain, where a Jew has since held 
and adorned the premiership, a Hebrew was forced 



ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 109 



to skulk and hide, hardly being permitted to live 
even in an isolated quarter. Surely America is not 
ready to move backward four centuries, a retrogra- 
ding which the existence of this 'Association' hints 
at. The principles of this government are too firmly 
grounded to need protection from any source which 
ignores the right of an American citizen to worship 
God after the dictates of his own conscience, or that 
because of his religious preferences would exclude 
him from an avenue of laudable ambition." 

Who is the editor of the Gazette? A Protestant. 
This makes us pause for breath. What words can 
we employ to condemn an effusion so reprehensible? 
I claim that good American citizens have a right to 
organize for self-protection. This Association is not 
a filibustering arrangement. It is not a lawless body 
to visit condign punishment upon the Catholics. It 
is not to interfere with their religion proper, but 
merely to estop them in their onward sweep to secure 
the reins of this government and reduce us to slavery 
— yea, more, to subject us to the horrible Inquisition. 
How can we account for such editorials as the one 
under consideration? The editor of the Gazette is 
perhaps profoundly ignorant of the history of the 
Catholic Church, does not know that it is a hier- 
archy set for the overthrow of both civil and religious 
liberty; or it may be that the greed for gain has 
so infatuated him that he cannot discriminate be- 
tween truth and error; or it is possible that the stulti- 
fying effect of a puny sentimentalism has rendered 
him so reckless of the charge committed to him that 
he almost unconsciously plays the part of a whining 
sycophant. As an editor of one of the leading dailies 



110 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 



of tliis great State, whether conscious or unconscious 
of the fact, he is one of the custodians of the liberty 
of this country. I am ready to conclude that, what- 
ever may have prompted this most remarkable edito- 
rial, he has proven himself unworthy to sit upon the 
watchtower of liberty, and should at once be de- 
throned by the just verdict of outraged justice. To 
publish without a word of adverse criticism the three 
paragraphs quoted above, and then to slap the Amer- 
ican jpeople in the face with such an abracadabra as 
we are reviewing — such a play U]jon the rights of 
American citizens is high treason to his country. 
AVhat reward does he expect for his championship? 
Why, if all Protestants were as he, of his abnormal 
sentimentality, this fair land of ours would soon be- 
come the seat of a papal empire. In the name of 
the Pilgrim fathers, in the name of Washington, of 
Jefferson, and of all the patriots and statesmen of the 
long ago, and in the name of liberty and of religion 
I resent this affront and contempt of justice set forth 
in this editorial. To be silent under such innuendoes, 
and in the face of such unmitigated folly would be to 
cringe before imbecility and connive at cupidity. As 
an American citizen I claim the right to be heard in 
vindication of my country against all foes, no matter 
whether they be Catholic mobs or wolves in sheep's 
clothing — wearing the livery of Protestants and doing 
the work of the Catholics. 

.9. And now comes Mr. Poirderhj, iclio is a stanch 
Catholic, and who has served at the head of the 
^'Knights of Labor,'' and says that all this furor, this 
anti-Catholic excitement, is like the false alar^n of an 
imaginary s^nallpox epidemic: ^'That there is an 



EOMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. Ill 



anti-Catholic crusade sweeping over the land is true, 
and, like all other crusades of its kind, it carries 
more malice than reason, more of bitterness than 
love of right, more ignorance than knowledge of 
religion, more belief of wild rumor than desire of 
truth, and, as a consequence, it will be dangerous 
while it lasts. It will have its time to run, and 
like the man wdio invited the smallpox because he 
thought he must have it, the scars will rest on those 
who recklessly wage the battle." {Fort Worth Ga- 
zette, December 3, 1893. ) 

Be it so. It is far better to use an ounce of prevent- 
ive than a pound of cure. There is no danger in 
vigilance; in fact, it is said, "eternal vigilance is the 
price of liberty." There is no controverting the fact 
that we are confronted by an active and vigilant foe 
in the form and guise of Komanism. Soto be stupid 
and indifferent under the circumstances is to be crimi- 
nal. Nor can the smooth words of a devout Catholic, 
such as Mr. Powderly, charm us to rest. Such we 
are expecting from all such as he. Nor will we be 
driven from the field of devotion, and pledges of fealty 
to God's cause and to our land of liberty, by such edi- 
torials as the one animadverted upon in the preceding 
pages. 



CHAPTEE VIII. 

Our Greatest Dangers — Demagogy — Eum — Secular Press — Fra- 
ternity — Conclusion. 

1. There is danger from a fawning spirit, and a 
mere sentimentality, that knoics no reason nor limit. A 
desire to please and a hope of gain — something, call 
it what you will — surely muzzle the secular press, 
while a spirit of indifference has laid hold of the re- 
ligious press of our c'ountry that is alarming. Now 
that there is a little waking up along the lines of our 
defense — some signs of life — a cry of persecution and 
intolerance has already been sounded, not by Catho- 
lics only, but by professed Protestants who are in 
position, such as officers and editors. We are not 
unmindful of these breakers. Some men will sacri- 
fice principle, the general good, and even self-respect 
itself, for money, and the power and the honor that 
office brings them. Alas! there are too many ready 
to kiss the feet of the pope to get the vote of the 
Catholics! We have already seen that the Catho- 
lics say that the political party which will grant 
them what they ask can gain their votes. I see the 
danger, and ardently wish that the eyes of the peo- 
ple may be opened so they too can see this great 
peril. In the following pages we submit some 
facts, and make some quotations, bearing upon 
this subject that are truly startling. The follow- 
ing quotation from the Gazette of December 10, 
1893, is further evidence that the contest between 
the Protestants and Catholics is not imaginary: 
*' Now comes the ' Society of Liberty and Loyalty,' 
(112) 



ROMANISM YEESUS PEOTESTANTISM. 113 



which will before spring have a membership of many 
thousands in this State alone. Its membership is 
confined almost wholly to Protestants. Men who ap- 
parently never took any interest in such affairs have 
soKcited the opportunity of enrolling their names. 
Both societies work in secret. One was founded to 
make war upon the other, its sole mission. There 
are speculations as to the outcome, and many men of 
broad views have expressed their fear that the two 
parties, or rather societies, may bring about a reli- 
gious conflict, when but little of real religion may be 
discovered in either. The fact that spies are kept in 
both camps, and that the members are bound to op- 
pose each other in every way, may, it is feared, lead 
to bloodshed." I think the statement that this or- 
ganization is composed chiefly of Protestants is false. 
It will not bear investigation. Why should Protes- 
tants war against Protestants for the sake of Catho- 
lics? That occasionally a Protestant can be found 
who is so blinded by self-interest as to defend Catho- 
lics is not a matter of surprise, but I cannot believe 
that there are many such. 

2. Not the least factor in the politics of this country 
is the ivhisky element. That the traffic of whisky con- 
trols, to a great extent, the politics of this country 
goes for the saying. That the whisky venders, in- 
cluding wholesale and retail dealers, are mostly for- 
eigners none will deny. Moreover, that many of 
these are Catholics is also true. A coalescing of 
Home and rum would form a power most formidable 
to consider. The possibilities of such an alliance 
are fearful to contemplate. The feasibility of such a 
union is not impossible, nor do I believe improbable — 
8 



114 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 



yea, it is the most natural thing to expect. Papal 
ingenuity, cunning, and perfidy is only limited by the 
illimitable. To-day she will condone; to-morrow, if 
to her interest, she will condemn. "What she sanc- 
tions to-day she condemns to-morrow if anything is 
to her gain. The saloon element is the most fickle, 
restless, and dangerous class of society. This ele- 
ment, composed of foreigners, anarchists, Catholics, 
and the baser sort of Americans, can be manipulated 
as mercenaries at no great pains and cost. 

3. We are not at a loss in taking the consensus of the 
secular press.. Pick up a secular paper when you 
will, and you are likely to find a favorable mention of 
the Catholic Church, or of some priest or prelate. 
I have just read a paragraph in the Daily Gazette 
of the 15th of September relative to the opening of 
the " World's Parliament of Eeligions," and after 
giving the names of a number of heathens who were 
there representing their heathen gods — and these 
names one can scarcely spell or pronounce — then fol- 
lows this statement: "Just as the bell was tolling 
ten. Cardinal Gibbons pronounced the invocation." 
These frequent allusions to and favorable notices of 
the Catholics are enough to arouse suspicion, if noth- 
ing more. In the Dallas News of September 22 three 
mentions are made of the Church work of the Catho- 
lics, and the Daily Gazette, of Fort Worth, of the 
same date there are three. These things indicate to 
us the trend of things in this republic. Gradually 
we are brought to look upon Catholicism favorably 
— all apprehensions of dread and fear are passing 
from the public mind. How appropriate these lines 
apply to this question: 



ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 115 



"Spen too oft, familiar with her face, 
We tirst endure, then pity, then embrace." 

It is a fact that we have become accustomed to 
Catholicism, and look upon it not as an enemy, but 
as a friend, as a factor of the commonwealth, not 
as an integral, assuming the prerogatives of suprem- 
acy, ecclesiastical, and political. Many of the lib- 
erty loving of this country appear to have forgotten 
what Catholicism is, if indeed they have ever known. 
To know Catholicism is to dread it. Never were 
Hamilcar and Hannibal more determined in their 
purpose to avenge the wrongs of Carthage, by vis- 
iting the sword and death upon pagan Eome, than 
are the Catholics to-day to subjugate these United 
States to the dictation of the pope. In all candor I 
would ask if the press, secular and religious, is favor- 
able to the' Catholics ? To this interrogation comes 
back a negative answer. But let us pause and ex- 
amine the facts in the case. It is a rare thing to read 
in a secular paper a thing that in the least antagonizes 
the Catholics; on the contrary, you see much that 
is favorable to them. Even this man Satolli, an 
Italian fresh from Italy, a foreigner, whose training, 
predilections, education, national affinity, and vested 
power all conspire to make him an enemy to our in- 
stitutions, is held up and eulogized by the secular 
press. The Gazette and the Dallas Neivs have never 
a word of warning to give their readers about the ag- 
gressions of the Catholics, and how they are threaten- 
ing the sacred interests of this country. The Voice, 
the organ of the Prohibition party, observes the same 
silence. While it does not approve, it does not con- 
demn. We can account for this in but three ways: 



116 EOMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 



The political parties which these papers represent 
are courting Catholic votes, or the fear of the loss of 
patronage, or the power of money is telling on these 
papers. Eev. O. M. Owen, in the " School Plot Un- 
masked," speaking to this question, uses this strong 
language: ''Many of the dailies and weeklies also are 
afraid of the Eomish boycott, or are bought up by the 
immense sum Pius X. left to be used in purchasing 
the American press, or by some other Eomish funds. 
What shall we say^ of the so-called Protestant 
papers that make light of the 'Danger Ahead?' 
Why do so many Protestants speak lightly of the 
things that threaten our liberties? It matters not to 
them that Eome has been riding on a triumph ever 
since the close of the war. It matters not to them 
that Eome is Eomanizing our free schools, Eomani- 
zing the text-books used therein, and in too many of 
our schools teaching Eoman catechisms on the sly. 
They care little for the fact that the papacy, which 
has cursed every land where she has gained su- 
premacy, is buying up the press and is muzzling the 
pulpit to the danger ahead; they blind themselves to 
the fact that Eome has the best-drilled army in the 
world; that her canon law teaches that to murder 
heretics is a virtue. When Protestants say there is 
no danger, they display either their ignorance, cow- 
ardice, or else their partiality to Eome. We are 
aware that Eome's adherents number only about 
10,000,000 out of 60,000,000 population; but in a 
struggle for the complete control of the government, 
a union of Church and State, and the extermination 
of heretics, how many of the remaining 50,000,000 
would side with Eome? How many, for money and 



EOMANISM VEESUS PROTESTANTISM. 117 



political preferment, would go with her? The sa- 
loons are largely Romanist, and every saloon keeper 
has a great influence over his customers." Yes, and 
thousands can be hired to perform the part of merce- 
naries at a nominal sum. And, strange to say, the reli- 
gious press has but little to say on this important ques- 
tion. The Texas Advocate and the Tennessee Methodist 
have led the van so far as I know. As to the Nash- 
ville Christian Advocate, not one editorial has been giv- 
en its readers on the aggression of the Catholics, that I 
have seen. If this is not a vital question, one upon 
which there should be no mincing, then I confess 
that I am totally blind. Mr. Owen continues: "The 
most dangerous ruffians and criminal classes would 
be on her side. It would be a conflict not only with 
the drilled soldiery of the papacy, but with the znob 
who would, for gold, go with her. If Eome has a 
right to drill and arm herself, so have Protestants 
and infidels." The manifest indifference of this 
Government to all these warlike preparations of 
Eome — yea, the pandering to her to secure her votes — 
is alarming in the extreme. When we remember 
that both the Republican and the Democratic parties 
have changed the plank in their national platforms 
on the school question so as not to antagonize the 
Catholics; and that the Prohibition party did not so 
express themselves as to bar the Catholic vote; that it 
is said, before the society known as the " Knights of 
Labor" was organized that the Constitution and By- 
laws were sent to the pope for his approval, and when 
he had suggested certain changes he returned it 
through his secretary, with the statement that if the 
emendations were made the Romanists Wvould be al- 



118 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 



lowed to join it; and that Powderly is a Romanist, and 
a papal tool; that the leaders and instigators of many 
of the strikes are Eomanists " — we are amazed; but aft- 
er all the most surprising thing is President Cleve- 
land's attitude toward the Catholics. I quote the fol- 
lowing from the Protestant American, an anti-Catholic 
paper published at Sjpringfield, Mo. (September 1): 

^'Bome, August 17, — The pope to-day gave an audi- 
ence to Eev. William Bartlett, of Baltimore, Exam- 
iner of Schools. His Holiness spoke affectionately of 
President Cleveland, whose letter, forwarded through 
Cardinal Gibbons to the pox)e, greatly impressed his . 
Holiness. We presume that most of our readers 
have seen President Cleveland's letter to the pope. 
But as there now has ceased to be any doubt as to its 
genuineness, we append it hereto: 

Executive Mansion, Washington, Aug. 13, 1893. 
To His Eminence, Cardinal Gibbonw. 

Your Eminence: Please permit me to transmit through jou to 
his Holiness, Leo XIII., my sincere congratulations on the occa- 
sion of his golden jubilee of his episcopate. Tlie pleasure at- 
tending this expression of my felicitations is much enhanced by 
the remembrance that his Holiness has always manifested a 
hvely interest in the prosperity of the United States and great 
admiration for our political institutions. I am glad to believe 
that these sentiments are tlie natural outgrowth of the holy fa- 
ther's solicitude for the welfare and hap})iness of the masses of 
humanity, and his especial sympathy for every effort made to 
dignify simple manhood and to promote the moral and social 
elevation of those who toil. The kindness with which his Ho- 
liness accef)ted a copy of the Constitution of the United States 
leads me to suggest that if it did not seem presumption it would 
please me exceedingly to place in his hands a book containing 
the official pax)ers and documents written by me during my 
previous term of office. 
Yours very sincerely, Grover Cleveland. 



ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 119 



" It required no little evidence to convince us that 
the President of the United States, especially under 
existing circumstances, would be guilty of compro- 
mising himself and the people of this nation in this 
way. But such are the facts, and only confirm the 
more what we have so long said: that the power and 
influence of Rome in our national government is 
undermining us as a people, and it is only a matter 
of a few years when Rome will rule this country." 

I shall forbear to comment upon this extraordinary 
departure of President Cleveland. This kind of 
toadyism is obnoxious to every true Protestant Amer- 
ican, and deserves the severest rebuke. As for my- 
self I spurn it with contempt. But, after reading 
the following, we pause for breath: "Grover Cleve- 
land, July 11, 1892, at Gray Gables, Mass., said over 
his own signature : ' I know Cardinal Gibbons, and I 
know him to be a good citizen and first-rate Ameri- 
can, and that his kindness of heart and toleration 
are in striking contrast with the fierce, intolerant, 
and vicious malignity which disgrace some who claim 
to be Protestants.'" ("School Plot Unmasked," 
p. 17.) I am dumfounded at such expressions. 
Are we already sold into the hands of the Catholics 
by demagogues and fortune seekers? It begins to 
look that way. But before I pass from this to the 
close of {his treatise, allow me to subjoin the following, 
taken from the '^ School Plot Unmasked" (p. 124): 
"The Freeman^ s Journal and Catholic Register says: 
*The Irish flag (N. B.) never floated so proudly as it 
did on the New York City Hall, St. Patrick's Day, 1893, 
and an Irish-born Mayor, Thomas F. Gilroy, weariug 
a bunch of shamrock plucked from the spot iu Meath 



120 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 



where John Boyle O'Keilly was born, reviewed the 
largest procession the metropolis has known in years. 
It was headed by the Sixty-ninth Regiment, Gen. 
James Cavanangh in command, the same regiment 
having attended mass in St. Patrick's Cathedral in 
the morning.' " How does this sound for American 
liberty? Mr. Owen answers: "Romanism and true 
liberty cannot live on the same soil together; one or 
the other must die. The Old World has been trying 
for years to shake off Jesuitism, while the New 
World has been giving it a royal birth. Now we are 
reaping our reward. Shall we resist this despotic 
power? Shall v/e defend our institutions, the herit- 
age bequeathed to us by our fathers? Did those 
noble sires bleed in vain? Shall we leave this record 
behind us: that we were afraid to stand by our liber- 
ties?" 

4, Call me a pessimist if you will — hut such I am 
not — / shall not forbear to lift up my voice and pen 
to arouse my countrymen to the great danger 1 fore^ 
see, I stand not alone in my view of this question, 
that sudden ruin is overhanging this government; 
abler pens than mine are at work to arouse the Prot- 
estants of this country. Rev. T. A. Boone, in the 
Soldier of July 15, closes an article on " Romanism 
Rampant " with these words: "Anti-Christ is in con- 
trol at the Federal capital, massing his forces for an 
active, early, and deadly assault upon Protestantism. 
But some simpleton will answer all these facts and 
utterances by the cry: ^O, he is a pessimist!' " Rev. 
O. M. Owen, in his "School Plot Unmasked," 
quotes Lord Macaulay as having said: "The crucial 
test for the American republic will come in the early 



ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 121 

part of the twentieth century, and as the Huns 
swept down on Kome, so will great hordes sweep 
down on America, and the services of a second Na- 
poleon will be needed to stay the tide." That time 
has come. We need our second Napoleon. What 
have we to oppose all this? This is a vital question 
upon which hangs the future destiny of this repub- 
lic. Our greatest danger lies in our apathy. If the 
people could be made to realize the true situation, 
and would take immediate steps to prevent the awful 
impending catastrophe, then there would be no dan- 
ger. The Catholics are taking advantage of our in- 
difference, and while we are doing nothing to check 
and hold in check their advancements, they are daily 
growing stronger. Their plans are well laid, and are 
being executed with, all the devotion that has ever 
characterized them. 

5. First of all there should he constant prayer to 
God to save this country from the rule of Home and 
rum, for it is the combined forces of the two that ive are 
to fear. 

6. We need some good statesmanship to protect this 
country from the enemies of morality, religious and 
civil liberty. This government should adopt a strict 
immigration policy, that would prohibit any one 
from coming to this country whose political or reli- 
gious proclivities and principles are averse to our 
principles of Government, This of course would cut 
off all Catholic immigration; for we have seen that 
they are not in harmony with our government, nei- 
ther indeed can they be— they are its sworn enemies. 
But our chief executive will say that this is intoler- 
ance, that "Brutus is an honorable man." Ah me. 



122 BOMANISM VEESUS PKOTESTANTISM. 



here's the rub! The vested rights of the people, reli- 
gious and civil liberty being sacrificed for political 
preferment, and for the lust of gain! It was Catholic 
oppression that drove the pilgrim fathers to this 
country. They came that they might exercise the 
liberties of freemen and enjoy liberty of conscience. 
Step by step we have advanced to our present attain- 
ment of liberty. We enjoy it to-day at the. price of 
self-sacrifice, ardent devotion, and the blood of our 
fathers. All of the chartered rights and appurte- 
nances of this liberty are challenged by hordes of 
Catholics, foreign born as well as American born, 
and unless there is a speedy estoppel to the aggres- 
sion and invasion of our sacred domain, the day is at 
hand when this fair land will be drenched in blood to 
preserve intact our sacred institutions, more dear to 
us than life itself. Let it be remembered that *' eter- 
nal vigilance is the price of liberty." Let the records 
the past serve us as promonitions of the future. Let 
us not grow unmindful of the struggles of the past 
in the European States. Let us not forget the death 
struggles of the Netherlands, the fate of the unof- 
fending Moors, the battlefields of England and of 
Scotland. Let us not forget the bloodletting of 
France, and the contests of Prussia and Sweden. 
Remember that Rome has old tricks, which she has 
been playing against the nations of earth time out of 
mind. Macaulay, in his " Essays " (p. 356), referring 
to the strategy of the Jesuits, says: "The game 
which the Jesuits were playing was no new game. 
A hundred years ago they had preached up political 
freedom just as they were now preaching up reli- 
gious freedom." I have given this quotation to show 



ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 123 



that our foes are experienced ones, and that no op- 
portunity is lost by them of making an impression in 
their favor. If need be, they will preach religious lib- 
erty or personal freedom that something may be 
gained to them. Remember the exhortation of Mgr. 
Satolli at their conference on the 5th of September: 
" Let the Catholics go forward with the Constitution 
of the United States in one hand and the Christian 
Book in the other." But this is according to the di- 
rections laid down in " The Secret Instructions of the 
Jesuits," chapter iv. 1: "Let the members of our so- 
ciety direct princes and great men in such a manner 
that they may seem to have nothing else in view but 
the promotion of God's glory; . . . for their aim 
must not immediately, but by degrees and insensibly, 
be directed toward political and secular dominion." 
Is it not charity to Mr. Cleveland to allow that he 
had been inoculated with this sophistry before he 
was prepared to reflect upon the Protestants of 
America in deference to his foreign allies. How 
different his estimate of the Catholics from that of 
Southey, who is quoted by Macaulay as saying: 
''They must persecute if they believe their own 
creed, for conscience sake; and if they do not be- 
lieve it, they must persecute for policy; for it is 
only by intolerance that so corrupt and injurious 
a system can be upheld." ("Essays," p. 124.) But 
in the face of history, all stained with the blood of 
innocent victims slain by this mother of harlots; de- 
spite their open opposition to our public school sys- 
tem ; despite their avowed purpose to rule the United 
States; and in spite of their arrogance, intolerance, 
and presumption; and in spite of the fact that they 



124 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 



are arming and drilling soldiers, President Cleveland 
would dare to insult the American people by reflect- 
ing upon Protestants in favor o£ the pope and his 
esteemed friend, Cardinal Gibbons. 

7. No Protestant — m fact^ no American citizen who 
values liberty, civil or religious — should in anyivise 
contribute the growth and advancement of the Catho- 
lies. And yet, in less than a mile from where I am 
now writing there are Protestant children sitting 
at the feet of priest-degraded women, learning the 
rudiments of death. But I am told with a kind 
of parasitic squint: ^'The convents are Superior 
schools, with cheaper rates, and no harm can come to 
my child." The above statement is untrue in every 
particular. I answer: How can you patronize a thing 
without encouraging it? Do you not pay your money 
to the Catholics when you patronize their schools? 
Then is not your money turned into Catholic chan- 
nels instead of Protestant channels? Does not that 
enable them to carry on their work as they could not 
without such patronage? Then are you not fostering 
and maintaining Catholicism — the confessional, mass, 
saint worship, indulgence, and all? Besides, you 
lend to them your influence when you patronize their 
schools. Then you endanger your child. The boy 
or girl brought continually in contact with these, the 
most dangerous people in this country, will be im- 
pregnated with their ideas and sentiments. AVhat 
child is not influenced by the teacher he loves? The 
time has come for every American citizen who 
stands for Protestanism to be true to himself, his 
children, and his country. To do this he cannot 
have any affiliation with Catholic institutions what- 



ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 125 



ever. I am not intolerant. I cherish in my heart 
the spirit of fraternity for all true Christians — my 
love leaps over denominational boundaries. I extend 
the right hand of Christian fellowship to all the chil- 
dren of my Heavenly Father. I would not impede 
the devotion of the least of his saints in the discharge 
of Christian duty. But to oppose Catholicism is a 
duty. It is different from everything else in the uni- 
verse; it is a hybrid institution, a pseudo religio-po- 
litico organization, set for the overthrow of all other 
organizations, both State and Church. The pope in 
my text is described as the man of sin, anti-Christ, 
assuming the prerogatives of God himself. 

This land is the home of the free and the land of 
the brave, the asylum for the oppressed, the land 
purchased by our forefathers with their blood, and 
bequeathed to us to hold as a heritage from God, an 
heirloom for coming generations. To us is commit- 
ted this great trust to preserve intact this glorious 
government, and to hand it down to the coming gen- 
erations aromatized with love — a great brotherhood of 
freemen, bound together in the sacred bonds of a glo- 
rious paternity. The ultimate aim of every Ameri- 
can citizen should be the ssstlietic beauty of a crys- 
tallized sentiment that puts God and the Bible in the 
foreground as the first, as the last, and as the only 
arbiter between man and man. With this ultimate 
design all differences can be adjusted, all classes can 
be controlled for the highest end, the grandest 
achievements. Then the desert will blossom as the 
valley, peace shall reign, and God be glorified. 



K-A / / ^ ^ 



